TikTok’s opponents argue that the app spies on American users on behalf of the Chinese government, providing Beijing with a secret backdoor to US data. Since about 2018, Congress has tried to ban TikTok in the US, despite many lawmakers using the app themselves. Now that the campaign has its own account, it still plans to work with the influencer network throughout the election, Biden campaign advisers said on Sunday. Instead, the Biden team has opted to work with a slate of young influencers to spread its message over the past few years, and the Democratic National Committee operated an account supporting Biden and other down-ballot Democrats. As recently as last summer, a Biden staffer told NBC News that it would not be joining the platform for the 2024 election cycle.
Before joining TikTok on Sunday, the Biden team appeared happy to avoid it and the politicization of its Chinese owner, ByteDance.
