Biden’s Campaign TikTok Account Leaves Congress and Administration Divided
President Joe Biden greets actor Ke Huy Quan before a screening of the TV series “American Born Chinese,” Monday, May 8, 2023, in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz).
Despite speculated threats to national security and bans on government-issued devices, the Biden campaign team took to TikTok to appeal to young voters.
Article by Julia O’Keefe, Senior Election Correspondent
WILMINGTON, Del. - President Biden’s campaign team launched an official TikTok account (“@bidenhq”) on February 12 as an effort to reach young voters leading up to the 2024 Presidential Election. With the app banned on government-issued devices, this has sparked major Republican criticism, urging the campaign team to delete the account citing national security concerns.
According to CNBC, Biden’s campaign advisors told NBC News that the TikTok account is an effort to “meet voters where they are”. The app is incredibly popular among young people, including those just reaching voting age in the U.S. Per CNBC, Pew Research data released in 2023 states that one third of 18-29 year olds in the U.S. said they regularly get news on TikTok. With these numbers, higher than ever before, the White House has a difficult relationship with the app. While it is useful to encourage civic engagement among younger generations, it still presents national security concerns due to its connection to China.
TikTok is owned by the Chinese parent-company Byte-Dance. Back in 2022, Biden signed legislation banning the app from all government-issued devices. This came following concerns that China could access and share users’ personal data with China’s authoritarian government. This proved a major congressional victory for China Hawks who believed China could use backdoors to carry out security breaches on U.S. government devices.
Fearing national security threats, Republican lawmakers, including Senators Marco Rubio, Jerry Moran, John Barrasso, Marsha Blackburn, Rick Scott, and Josh Hawley, are now urging Biden’s campaign team to delete the account.
In a letter seen by Reuters, the lawmakers claimed that Biden was "ignoring TikTok's well-established national security risks” and asked the question: “How can the federal government warn Americans about the risks of this app if the Commander in Chief uses it, too?" Senator Hawley took to X (formally Twitter), certifying Biden’s campaign is “bragging about using a Chinese spy app even though Biden signed a law banning it on all federal devices.”
But the account isn’t just unpopular by Biden’s opposition. Biden’s own administration has acknowledged their concerns around the President using and app he had banned on government-issued devices.
“There are still national security concerns about the use of TikTok on government devices,” said national security spokesman John Kirby per AP News. “There’s been no change to our policy not to allow that.”
Despite Kirby being asked questions about the account, he redirected them to Biden’s campaign administrators, saying potential security issues “have to do with concerns about the preservation of data and potential misuse of that data and privacy information by foreign actors.”
The campaign team clarified their goal of reaching younger voters, backed by the fact that the TikTok account’s debut video received over 5 million views, and assured the public that they are using a separate, non-government issued cell phone to run the account.
There has been no action by campaign administrators to remove the account from TikTok, and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she is not in contact with the campaign regarding the account, nor had warning that it was going live.