Publicly, the Biden administration says there are “legitimate national security concerns” with TikTok.
Privately, it’s a different story. New reporting from POLITICO shows Anita Dunn, a senior adviser to Biden and one of his closest confidants, was instrumental in enlisting “influencers” to push Biden-approved messaging on the Chinese spyware app. This came after the firm SKDK (of which she is a founding partner and which boasts a roster of Biden allies) signed up to “advise” on TikTok’s behalf.
Democrats like Biden want it both ways; they *say* there are “concerns,” but simultaneously keep boosting the platform anyway.
- Soon after taking office, Biden reversed an executive order “that tried to ban the popular Chinese-owned video app.”
- The Biden administration built an extensive, behind-the-scenes network to prop up TikTok “influencers” — hosting them for exclusive briefings and even meetings in the Oval Office — as a workaround to posting directly on the app themselves.
- Biden’s top digital staffer — a taxpayer-funded employee — said he uses “an old, personal iPod Touch” to access TikTok.
- The Democrat National Committee gave “influencers” free trips to D.C., which included audiences with Barack Obama, DNC leaders, and congressional Democrats.
- Biden’s own commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo, mused aloud that a TikTok ban would mean Democrats lose “literally every voter under 35, forever.”
- The administration recently dabbled in the use of a second app owned by TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
- The White House has refused to say whether it downloaded this app onto U.S. government devices.
- Other individuals with extremely close ties to Biden’s network have signed on to represent TikTok.
- Biden himself has been an eager participant in celebrity TikTok videos — as recently as two weeks ago.
A clear majority of Americans support banning the Chinese spyware app, so why is the Biden administration so hesitant to act? How can we expect them to stand up to the Chinese Communist Party
We can’t.
Click here for PART II: Dems have a TikTok problem
