The re-election campaign for President Joe Biden is reportedly considering whether or not to join TikTok, a social media platform owned by China. TikTok has come under fire in the past for being a digital arm of the Chinese Communist Party, which has raised concerns among conservatives about whether it should be banned.
Axios initially reported that Biden’s team was considering joining the platform leading up to the 2024 presidential race, but a spokesman for the president’s campaign dismissed the story.
Though some Democrats believe joining TikTok could increase the likelihood of the president reaching young voters, there are some still skeptical of the move. The development comes after the Biden administration implemented a 30-day deadline earlier this year for government agencies to remove the application from federal devices.
The potential of the Biden administration to leverage TikTok in the upcoming presidential race signals that he is focused on getting the votes of young people. According to a recent report, more than 70% of all users on TikTok fall between the ages of 18 and 34.
Fox News Digital reported that the Democratic National Committee has already joined the uber-popular social media platform. However, for the president’s campaign to join the China-owned platform could present security risks.
One of the primary concerns is that the platform must abide by the Chinese Communist Party’s cybersecurity law, which allows the government complete access to the company’s data. While a number of conservatives have refused to use the platform, certain Democrats have joined the platform in order to leverage their future in higher office.
TJ Ducklo, senior adviser for the 2024 Biden presidential campaign, ridiculed the Axios report that suggested the president’s campaign could be interested in leveraging TikTok.
Ducklo took to X to express his apparent disapproval, writing: “Lol this is not a scoop. Campaigns talk about a bunch of stuff and some we do and a bunch we don’t. Something some outlets who know better choose to ignore for cLicKs. If we have news to share we’ll let yall know!”
TikTok has also been criticized for taking an overt stance on the Middle Eastern conflict between Israel and Palestine. Senator Josh Hawley issued a statement earlier this month, suggesting that the social media platform was taking Palestine’s side over Israel.
“While data security issues are paramount, less often discussed is TikTok’s power to radically distort the world-picture that America’s young people encounter,” Hawley said.
“Israel’s unfolding war with Hamas is a crucial test case. According to one poll, 51% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 believe that Hamas’s murder of civilians was justified—a statistic notably different from other age cohorts. Analysts have attributed this disparity to the ubiquity of anti-Israel content on TikTok, where most young internet users get their information about the world.”
TikTok has consistently denied the accusations that it harbors bias concerning the ongoing conflict.
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