Biden joins TikTok despite national security concerns
By newseditors // 2024-02-13
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Yep, you read that right: Joe Biden is now on TikTok. (Article by Kaley republished from WLTReport.com) In his first post on the notorious Chinese-owned app, Biden answered questions about the Super Bowl and joked about it being rigged. The post was captioned “lol hey guys.” Watch for yourself here: TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has raised national security concerns over its data collection of American citizens. It is currently banned from federal devices and government devices in 34 states. The state of Montana has banned the app from being downloaded altogether. And yet, the Biden campaign seems to think attracting the attention of young voters is more important than national security… Although Biden has joined the platform, which is most popular among Gen Z, the app is still banned from government phones and his administration are not changing any of their policies. More on this, from CNN:
The White House on Monday said there are no changes regarding the administration’s long-standing security concerns over TikTok after the President Joe Biden made his campaign debut on the platform Sunday night. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday the ban on the platform’s use on government devices “remains the case today.” He referred questions over the video to the president’s reelection campaign, which posted it. “I don’t want to get into too much of the national security, technical reasons behind that, but it does have to do with concerns about the preservation of data and the potential misuse of that data and privacy information by foreign actors,” Kirby told reporters. In a follow-up exchange with Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary said she was not aware the campaign planned to launch a TikTok account ahead of Sunday. “No – I am very, very careful, as the White House press secretary … and so I do not communicate with the campaign on any strategy or anything like that. … I did not know; I knew as you all did,” she said
The Biden campaign’s decision to join TikTok has a lot of lawmakers and government officials worried for the safety of our nation. Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik posted this on X: John Kirby doesn’t know how to respond when pressed on the safety of the Biden campaign’s decision to join TikTok: The Guardian expanded on the government’s response to Biden joining TikTok:
The chair of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, a senior Democrat, said he is concerned about the decision by the campaign of president Joe Biden to join TikTok. On Sunday, Biden’s reelection campaign used the Super Bowl to kick off its new TikTok account in an effort to reach young voters ahead of the presidential election in November. The campaign’s launch on TikTok is notable given that the app, which is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, is under review in the US due to potential national security concerns. Some US lawmakers have called for the app to be banned over concerns that the Chinese government could access user data or influence what people see on the app. On Monday, Democratic senator Mark Warner said he was concerned about the national security implications. “I think that we still need to find a way to follow India, which has prohibited TikTok,” Warner said. “I’m a little worried about a mixed message.” A number of Republican lawmakers have also criticised the campaign’s decision to join TikTok.
What do you think? Are you surprised at China Joe’s latest campaign move? Read more at: WLTReport.com
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