World Courant
US President Joe Biden arrives at John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport, in New York Metropolis, US, February 7, 2024.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
President Joe Biden’s re-election marketing campaign launched an official TikTok account on Sunday night. The account is notable as a result of TikTok is at the moment banned on most US government-issued gadgets.
The TikTok account, with the deal with “@bidenhq,” debuted on Sunday through the Lunar New Yr celebrations in China and Tremendous Bowl 58 within the US.
In late 2022, Biden signed laws banning the usage of TikTok for many federal authorities gadgets. The availability was a part of a large omnibus invoice and marked a significant victory for China hawks in Congress on the time.
A number of states and New York Metropolis additionally adopted swimsuit and banned TikTok on authorities gadgets final 12 months, highlighting a variety of safety considerations.
TikTok’s mum or dad firm is China-based ByteDance. The corporate’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, is Singaporean and a graduate of Harvard Enterprise College.
One among TikTok’s largest third-party buyers is Susquehanna Worldwide Group. The corporate’s billionaire co-founder Jeffrey Yass has achieved simply that tens of millions donated to lawmakers who wish to block an entire ban on the app in the USA.
A number of US lawmakers have accused TikTok and different social media platforms of spreading on-line content material that’s dangerous to kids’s psychological well being and failing to guard kids on-line.
Biden marketing campaign advisers advised NBC Information that the TikTok account is a part of an effort to satisfy voters the place they’re.
The app stays important for younger folks, together with those that are eligible to vote within the US Pew analysis In information launched in late 2023, a few third of 18-29 12 months olds within the US say they usually get information on TikTok, a better share than ever earlier than.
Stricter regulation of social media corporations, together with TikTok, Meta, SnapDiscord and X (previously Twitter) represented a uncommon difficulty of bipartisan settlement final month at a Senate listening to on little one security.
The Biden White Home has had a love-hate relationship with TikTok since Biden took workplace. On the one hand, the federal government has overtly courted TikTok stars and content material producers to assist unfold public messages and have interaction youth in neighborhood occasions.
However as China-skeptical lawmakers stepped up their marketing campaign in opposition to the corporate lately, the Biden White Home tacitly agreed with them, even going as far as to reportedly strain ByteDance to promote TikTok.
— CNBC’s Jonathan Vanian contributed reporting.
