A Democratic Congressman from North Carolina took to TikTok Saturday to issue a groveling apology for his vote that could lead to a US ban for the app.
“I screwed this up. I did,” said Jeff Jackson, a freshman congressman from the Tar Heel state. “I apologize. And I will keep you posted.”
“I have been completely roasted on this app over the last 48 hours. And I get it,” Jackson, 41, continued. “If I were in your shoes, I would probably feel the same way. I would see someone who used this app to build a following, and then appears to have voted against it. And I would be upset.”
Though a relative unknown in Congress, Jackson is one of the chamber’s biggest TikTok stars, with over 2.3 million followers. But he’s lost more than 100,000 followers since his vote, while others publicly vented their displeasure with him on the app. .
In his post, Jackson said that while he liked using TikTok and reaching his fans there, he was disturbed by information he received in briefings about the app, which he called “genuinely alarming.”
Jackson said that he hoped the bill would force the sale of TikTok to an American company, and that he didn’t really believe the darkest possibility — a total US ban — would come to pass.
“I genuinely believe the chance of a ban is practically zero for a lot of reasons, financial, political, geopolitical, I just don’t think there’s any real chance of a ban,” he said. “I still believe that but maybe I got that balance wrong.”