Biden Campaign Defends Decision to Put President on TikTok

U.S. President Joe Biden officially has a presence on TikTok. But his reelection campaign is having to defend its decision to put him on the video sharing app. That is because his administration has repeatedly warned of national security concerns linked to TikTok.

Biden, a Democrat, first appeared on TikTok in a video published Sunday night. The 30-second video showed him answering a series of questions, mostly about Sunday's Super Bowl.

U.S. officials have said the decision to put the president on TikTok came from Biden's campaign organization, not the White House. Campaign officials have explained that they see TikTok as a way for Biden, age 81, to connect with younger voters.

Last month, a TikTok representative told U.S. lawmakers the app currently had an estimated 170 million active users in the United States. That was up from 150 million a year earlier. Online data company Statista has estimated about 70 percent of American teenagers are users of TikTok.

U.S. officials have long warned that TikTok presents national security concerns. The government has accused TikTok's owner, Chinese company ByteDance, of sharing user data with China's government. Critics have said China could also use TikTok to spread misinformation and that material published on the service can harm the mental health of young users.

TikTok denies the accusations.

President Biden approved a limited ban on TikTok in December 2022. The ban made it unlawful for most of the federal government's 4 million employees to use the app on devices owned by agencies.

On Monday, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the U.S. government's position and policies concerning TikTok had not changed. "There are still national security concerns about the use of TikTok on government devices and there's been no change to our policy not to allow that," Kirby said.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters election rules barred her from commenting on campaign matters. But when asked about worries that TikTok and similar apps can help spread disinformation, she said, "it's a concern that we have."

A spokesman for Biden's reelection campaign defended the use of TikTok to help get the president's message out. Deputy campaign manager Rob Flaherty noted that by Monday afternoon, Biden's TikTok video had been watched more than 5 million times.

The video, Flaherty said in a statement, demonstrates the campaign's continuing efforts "to reach voters in an evolving, fragmented, and increasingly personalized media environment."

Attempts in Congress to restrict TikTok have not resulted in approved legislation. A number of U.S. states and some universities have banned TikTok on state-issued devices.

Several lawmakers criticized the Biden campaign's decision. Among them was Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri. He wrote on X that Biden's campaign was "bragging about using a Chinese spy app even though Biden signed a law banning it on all federal devices."

Republican Senator Joni Ernst also reacted on X, expressing concern that the campaign had decided to put Biden on what she described as a "dangerous propaganda app."

Republican Representative Darrell Issa said, "Panic is when the Biden campaign joins TikTok after the White House banned the app from devices a year ago."

Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat, also expressed his national security concerns about TikTok and criticized the campaign's decision to put Biden on the app. "I think that we still need to find a way to follow India, which has prohibited TikTok," Warner said. He added, "I'm a little worried about a mixed message."

I'm Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

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app – n. a small computer program that can be put onto a mobile phone or other electronic device

allow – v. to permit

evolve – v. to develop or make something develop

fragmented – adj. broken into parts

elderly – adj. older people

brag – v. to talk with much pride about what you have done or what you have

panic – n. a sudden, strong feeling or worry or fear

prohibit – v. to officially ban something