Biden’s reelection campaign won’t stop using TikTok

Joe Biden’s reelection campaign plans to continue using TikTok, a campaign official said Wednesday, shortly after the US president signed a law that could ban the app if its Chinese owner is unable to sell the business.

The decision comes as many young and left-leaning voters, a significant part of the short-video app’s user base, are agitated over Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza and protests have intensified at universities across the country .

“A fragmented media environment requires us to show up and meet voters where they are, and that includes the internet. TikTok is one of many places we’re making sure our content is seen by voters,” said a Biden campaign official who he did not want to be identified.

According to the official, the campaign will use “enhanced security measures” when using the app. Biden’s campaign team is not employed by the government and does not deal with national security issues, so they can have the app on their phones, campaign officials have previously said.

The Biden campaign’s TikTok account, @bidenhq, has posted about 120 videos and has more than 306,000 followers, and regularly posts videos of Biden even as the White House says TikTok raises “legitimate national security concerns.”

TikTok will challenge the bill on First Amendment grounds, and the company’s CEO said Wednesday that he hopes to win a lawsuit to block the legislation.

The four-year fight over TikTok is a major front in the battle over the Internet and technology between Washington and Beijing.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who is not on the app, said earlier this week that Biden would be responsible if a ban was imposed, urging voters to pay attention. When he was president in 2020, Trump tried to ban TikTok on national security grounds, but was blocked by the courts.

Biden campaign advisers don’t expect the decision to hurt them among young voters and expect a lengthy legal battle to determine the app’s fate and delay any potential ban.

“Reducing youth voting to the use of a social media app is unserious, inaccurate and offensive — election after election, young people continue to show us they understand the risks of this moment,” said Biden campaign spokesman Seth Schuster.

In March, the campaign announced it had launched its largest voter outreach program yet, with support from 15 youth organizations that supported Biden.

The new law gives TikTok’s parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, nine months to sell the app or face a ban in the United States. The president could grant a one-time 90-day extension, but even without it the ban couldn’t begin until January.

Source: Terra

Rose

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