Democrats cynically used TikTok as an outreach tool during the 2022 midterm elections, even though they knew it was Chinese spyware. President Joe Biden is prepared to do exactly the same for 2024 as well.
Biden and his campaign are planning on teaming up with social media “influencers” (i.e., people who have a lot of followers on social media) to reach young voters. It is not a great sign for our politics that Democrats think the best way to engage voters is through celebrities and wannabe celebrities, whether they are right or wrong. But the specifics of this alleged plan are far more depressing.
TOP BIDEN ADVISER WITH TIKTOK TIES TOLD WHITE HOUSE ALLIES TO USE THE APP
According to Axios, several TikTok “influencers” are on the list of "hundreds" that the Biden administration is going to collaborate with. The plan includes giving these social media addicts a “dedicated White House briefing space” in order to “give some influencers more consistent access to the president.”
So, the White House is going to give social media users with TikTok installed on their devices “more access” to Biden and a dedicated room in the White House while there is bipartisan agreement in Congress that TikTok is a Chinese spyware app. This is Biden’s long way of saying that his threat to TikTok to divest from its Chinese ownership or face a ban is completely empty. Why should TikTok worry about Biden imposing a ban when he wants to put major resources into using it as a campaign tool?
Congress isn’t helping matters either. The bipartisan RESTRICT Act that Republicans and Democrats are saying would ban TikTok does not explicitly do so. Instead, the bill would give the secretary of commerce the ability to “identify, deter, disrupt, prevent, prohibit, investigate or otherwise mitigate … any risk arising from any covered transaction by any person” that would pose “an undue or unacceptable risk.”
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In other words, the secretary of commerce could ban TikTok, or could not, depending on how the person feels. How are we guessing that a Commerce Department run by Biden would rule on TikTok while he is actively using it to campaign and giving TikTokers their own room in the White House?
Democrats went from warning campaigns not to use TikTok during the 2020 elections to embracing it for the 2022 midterm elections. While they pretend that they are now so concerned about China and its spyware app, Biden is prepared to show that it’s all an act. There will always be another election for Democrats to put aside their TikTok concerns so they can reach young prospective voters. What’s a little Chinese surveillance when it comes to trying to convince young people to vote for once?