Biden says he’ll ban TikTok if Congress passes bill, but he’s campaigning on it until then

When

Joe
Biden
joined
TikTok
on
the
eve
of
the
Super
Bowl
last
month,
political
scientist
Maggie
Macdonald
was
struck
by
what
she
called
the
“meta”
nature
of
the
president’s
first
post.

In
the
video,
Biden
poked
fun
at
a
conspiracy
theory
that
he
rigged
the
Super
Bowl
—
in
favor
of
the
Kansas
City
Chiefs
—
to
somehow
help
his
reelection
efforts.

“Yeah,
I’m
old,
but
I’m
on
TikTok,
and
I’m
on
this
super
online
place
talking
about
this
super
online
concept,”
Macdonald,
an
assistant
political
science
professor
at
the
University
of
Kentucky,
said
of
the
messaging
and
tone
of
Biden’s
video.

While
Biden’s
debut
on
the
wildly
popular
social
media
app
came
in
a
playful
manner,
his
use
of
TikTok
in
this
year’s
reelection
campaign
is
at
the
heart
of
a
heated
debate
in
Washington,
D.C.,
about
whether
the
service
should
even
exist
in
the
U.S.
The
app,
owned
by
China’s
ByteDance,
is
viewed
as
both
an
invaluable
tool
in
trying
to
reach
masses
of
young
potential
voters
who
are
unplugged
from
mainstream
media
and
an
easy
way,
allegedly,
for
the
Chinese
government
to
spy
on
American
consumers.

Members
of
the
House
Select
Committee
on
the
Chinese
Communist
Party

introduced
a
bill
this
week
that
would
require
ByteDance
to
divest
TikTok
or
face
a
U.S.
ban,
following
earlier
federal
and
state-led

efforts
that
never
came
to
fruition.
On
Thursday,
the
committee

voted
50-0
to
send
the
bill
to
the
House
floor.
 

Shortly
after
the
committee

advanced
the
bill,
Rep.
Troy
Balderson,
R-Ohio,

called
TikTok
“a
surveillance
tool
used
by
the
Chinese
Communist
Party
to
spy
on
Americans
and
harvest
highly
personal
data.”

TikTok
CEO
Shou
Zi
Chew
has
denied
in
Senate
hearings
any
ties
between
the
app
and
the
CCP.
In
a
statement
to
CNBC
on
Thursday,
TikTok
said,
“The
government
is
attempting
to
strip
170
million
Americans
of
their
Constitutional
right
to
free
expression,”
an
act
that
“will
damage
millions
of
businesses,
deny
artists
an
audience,
and
destroy
the
livelihoods
of
countless
creators
across
the
country.”

Since
Biden’s
playful
intro
post,
his
campaign’s
TikTok
account
has
notched
over
222,000
followers
and
over
2.4
million
likes.
With
eight
months
until
the
general
election
and
a
likely
rematch
of
the
2020
contest,
Biden
narrowly
trails
Republican
challenger

Donald
Trump
in
most
national
polls
in
what’s
expected
to
be
a
tight
battle
to
the
end.

Biden’s
age
has
shown
up
as
a
persistent
concern
in
polling
data,
so
experts
say
reaching
out
to
younger
audiences
is
key
in
trying
to
win
over
undecided
young
voters,
and
mobilize
a
traditional
Democratic
constituency
whose
members
sometimes
stay
home
on
Election
Day.

“It’s
really
important
for
him
to
have
a
presence,
and
for
him
to
interact
directly
with
voters,
not
just
through
creators
and
influencers,”
said
Aaron
Earls,
CEO
of
social
media
influencer
firm
Activate
HQ,
which
specializes
in
political
campaigns.
“The
turnout
in
2020
was
really
significant
with
that
younger
audience
and,
everyone’s
suggesting
that
maybe
there
will
be
a
similar
turnout
with
the
younger
audience
again.”

During
the

State
of
the
Union
address
Thursday
evening,
Biden’s
campaign
posted
clips
of
the
speech
on
TikTok,
a
sign
that
the
president
plans
to
stick
with
the
app
despite
swirling
concerns
in
Washington.
But
it’s
a
particularly
convoluted
matter
for
Biden
because,
should
the
bill
pass
the
full
House
and
the
Senate,
it
would
hit
the
president’s
desk.

White
House
press
secretary
Karine
Jean-Pierre

told
reporters
on
Thursday
that,
“This
bill
is
important,
we
welcome
this
step.”
She
said
the
administration
plans
to
“meet
the
American
people
where
they
are,”
adding
that,
“It
doesn’t
mean
that
we’re
not
going
to
try
to
figure
out
how
to
protect
our
national
security.”

Biden
said
on
Friday
that
he
will
sign
the
bill
if
Congress
passes
it.

The
Biden
campaign
didn’t
immediately
respond
to
a
request
for
comment.

TikTok
is
trying
to
generate
support
from
users
following
the
House’s
action
on
Thursday.
On
the
app,
users
were
greeted
with
a
screenshot
warning
them
that
Congress
was
“planning
a
total
ban
of
TikTok.”
Multiple
staffers
and
lawmakers
told
CNBC
their
offices
were
flooded
with
calls,
mostly
from
kids.

U.S.
political
campaigns
more
broadly
are
trying
to
figure
out
how
best
to
utilize
TikTok.

In
recent
cycles,
Facebook
has
been
the
social
media
app
of
choice
for
campaigns
because
of
its
ability
to
narrowly
target
users
with

fundraising
ads
and
informational
posts.
However,


Apple’s
2021
iOS
privacy
update
made
it
much
harder
to
target
audiences,
raising
the
cost
of
ad
campaigns
across


Meta’s
platforms.

Additionally,
Facebook
has
skewed
older
over
the
years,
with
younger
groups
gravitating
to
TikTok.
The
challenge
for
campaigns
is
that
TikTok
says
it
doesn’t

allow
for
political
ads
or
“content
such
as
a
video
from
a
politician
asking
for
donations,
or
a
political
party
directing
people
to
a
donation
page
on
their
website.”

To
date,
major
campaigns
have
relied
on
high-profile
TikTok
influencers
to
help
rally
support
for
specific
issues.
Last
April,
for
instance,
the
White
House

said
it
was
enlisting
a
squad
of
volunteer
TikTok
and
Instagram
influencers
to
help
spread
awareness
of
the
Biden
campaign.

Earls
says
it’s
a
strategy
that’s
long
been
employed
in
politics.
TikTok
just
presents
a
new
medium.

“That
has
historically
been
a
tactic
that’s
happened
since
the
Kennedy
days,
but
just
more
in
traditional
media,”
Earls
said.
“Like
you’re
going
to
get
an
endorsement
from
Marilyn
Monroe
or
Joe
DiMaggio
or
whatever.”

Political
groups
are
scouring
TikTok
for
influencers
with
positions
that
resonate
with
would-be
voters,
and
are
targeting
certain
swing
states
that
could
be
critical
in
deciding
an
election.
During
the
2022
midterm
elections,
the
Democratic
National
Committee
and
communications
groups
like
Climate
Power

enlisted
the
help
of
TikTok
and
influencers
to
discuss
issues
like
abortion
rights
and
to
mobilize
voters.

Even
with
its
growing
popularity,
TikTok
remains
a
niche
tool
in
politics.

Anupam
Chander,
a
Georgetown
University
Law
Center
professor,

released
a
study
with
some
colleagues
last
year
showing
that
fewer
than
10%
of
members
of
the
U.S.
Congress
have
a
“TikTok
account
from
which
they
post
content,”
most
likely
because
of
the
app’s
connection
to
China.
In
total,
the
report
said,
34
House
members
and
seven
senators
had
an
official
TikTok
account.

Among
major
politicians
using
TikTok,
an
overwhelming
majority
are
Democrats,
the
study
showed.
Some
of
Republicans’
resistance
could
tie
back
to

Trump’s
vow
—
which
was
ultimately
unsuccessful
—
to
ban
TikTok
during
his
administration.

One
of
the
few
high-profile
Republicans
now
on
the
app
is
former
presidential
candidate
Vivek
Ramaswamy,
who

said
during
a
primary
debate
that
“part
of
how
we
win
elections
is
reaching
the
next
generation
of
young
Americans
where
they
are.”

As
to
whether
Trump
will
use
TikTok
in
his
campaign,
Earls
said
he
wouldn’t
be
surprised
to
see
it.
The
decision,
he
said,
likely
has
less
to
do
with
China
and
is
more
about
Trump’s
connection
to
his
own
social
media
platform,
Truth
Social,
where
he
posts
with
frequency.

“We’ve
seen
him
do
whatever
it
takes
to
win
an
election
including
trying
to
stop
the
peaceful
transition
of
power,”
Earls
said.
“He
will
do
what
he
thinks
will
help
him
win
so
I
suspect
we’ll
see
his
campaign
join
TikTok
in
the
coming
months
depending
upon
how
things
develop
with
his
ability
to monetize
Truth
Social.”

The
Trump
campaign
didn’t
immediately
respond
to
a
request
for
comment.

Anish
Mohanty,
communications
director
for
Gen-Z
for
Change,
said
his
nonprofit
advocacy
group
was
originally
called
TikTok
for
Biden
when
it
formed
in
2020
as
part
of
an
effort
“to
defeat
Donald
Trump.”
The
group
changed
its
name
the
following
year,
and
now
taps
its
network
of
hundreds
of
TikTok
social
media
influencers
to

advocate
for
multiple
progressive
issues
related
to
climate
change,
universal
health
care
and
for
Biden
to
call
for
an
immediate

ceasefire
in
Gaza.

Given
the
many
challenges
Biden
faces
with
younger
groups,
his
mere
presence
on
TikTok
isn’t
enough
to
win
votes,
Mohanty
said,
particularly
if
the
president’s
campaign
is
“just
using
it
to
post
cringy
memes
about
Trump.”

“Young
people
care
about
issues,
that’s
why
young
people
are
so
unhappy
with
Biden
over
action
on
climate
change,
over
the
situation
in
Gaza,”
Mohanty
said.
“Just
because
Biden
is
posting
on
TikTok,
that’s
not
what’s
going
to
pull
young
people
over.”

Still,
Macdonald
sees
a
big
opportunity
for
Biden.

“If
you
want
to
reach
younger
people
who
are
very
apathetic,
they’re
on
TikTok,”
said
the
University
of
Kentucky
professor.
“You
have
an
incentive
to
reach
them
on
TikTok,
and
it
does
seem
that
the
Republican
Party
as
a
unit
is
just
not
doing
it.”

WATCH:

Denying
a
platform
isn’t
denying
free
speech.