Two Republican lawmakers are pressing President Joe Biden's reelection campaign to suspend its use of TikTok as long as the company is owned by ByteDance, which has ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
"Despite signing legislation into law acknowledging the national security threat posed by TikTok, Joe Biden's presidential campaign continues using TikTok, blatantly ignoring the grave concerns his own administration's officials have raised," Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, said Monday in a news release.
Nehls and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, sent a letter to Biden on Friday addressing their concerns about his campaign using the platform.
"By continuing to use TikTok, Joe Biden is putting politics over the safety of the American people," Nehls said. "I'm proud to join Sen. Ernst in calling on Joe Biden to suspend the use of his campaign's TikTok account until it is out of the CCP's hands and put the American people first."
Biden on Wednesday signed legislation that gives ByteDance six months to divest itself from the social media platform or face having the app banned in the U.S. But his reelection campaign said the same day it will continue to use the platform as younger voters appear to be leaning more toward former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
The Biden campaign's TikTok account has more than 312,000 followers since it launched in February.
"TikTok has a proven track record of spying on U.S. citizens," the letter from Nehls and Ernst stated. "China-based ByteDance executives used TikTok to spy on American journalists reporting on the application's CCP ties. ByteDance employees reportedly even had access to a search tool allowing them to access the friends list of U.S. politicians and their families – including members of your own family.
"Unfortunately, your campaign appears poised to ignore your own administration officials' warnings. [On Feb. 12], your campaign joined TikTok, despite the long-standing security problems associated with using the CCP spyware. We are similarly worried that many members of your party also have TikTok accounts, using it to disseminate their political message despite the risks associated with the application."
The letter refers to Rob Flaherty, the Biden campaign's deputy manager, in explaining the reason to stay on Tik Tok: "We would be silly to write off any place where people are getting information about the president."
"We disagree," the lawmakers wrote. "What would be silly is to prioritize politics over protecting national security. The national security threats TikTok poses are grave. Until TikTok is out of CCP hands, we call on you to suspend your TikTok account.
"Leadership starts at the very top, and we hope you can set a good example to the many Americans using TikTok by suspending the use of this application until we know for sure that it is safe for use."
Newsmax reached out to the Biden campaign for comment.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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