(USNewsBreak.com) – Lawmakers have contentiously debated TikTok because of its ties to China. They contend that the Chinese Communist Party might demand TikTok’s data from its parent company, ByteDance, at any time. Most states and the federal government have banned the use of the platform on government-issued devices, and President Joe Biden recently signed a bill that threatens to ultimately ban TikTok. However, the Biden campaign is still using it to reach potential voters, a move that some lawmakers are trying to curb.
On Friday, April 26, two Republican lawmakers, Representative Troy Nehls (TX) and Senator Joni Ernst (IA), sent a letter to Biden. They pointed out that Biden recently signed HR 815, acknowledging that Congress considers TikTok a national security threat. Yet, his “presidential campaign defiantly continues to use” the platform to reach voters while “ignoring the serious concerns [his] own administration’s officials have raised” about it, the lawmakers noted.
Two Republican lawmakers are pressing the Biden campaign to stop using TikTok. https://t.co/6vdYERE9bv
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) April 30, 2024
Ernst and Nehls are calling on the president to suspend his campaign’s use of the social media app, accusing him of putting politics over Americans’ safety. They argued that the app “has a proven track record of spying.”
The GOP Congress members pointed out that the campaign’s account was also new, having only launched in February, well after lawmakers deemed the platform a threat. The campaign has amassed more than 300,000 followers. Additionally, Ernst and Nehls expressed concern that others have continued to use the app despite the perceived dangers.
Biden signed HR 815 as part of the recent funding bills. Congress included the measure in Division H of the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. The law explicitly named ByteDance and TikTok, and lawmakers are trying to force ByteDance to divest itself of its ownership share or face a total ban in the United States.
Biden hasn’t responded to the lawmakers’ request to remove his campaign from the app.
Copyright 2024, USNewsBreak.com
