While Joe Biden is reportedly aiming to block the flow of sensitive data to hostile foreign countries, he is apparently undercutting his own goals.
The Washington Post reported Feb. 26 that Joe Biden is set to issue an executive order “to prevent the bulk flow of Americans’ sensitive data — including genetic information — to hostile foreign countries, prime among them China.” Yet, despite TikTok’s exposed data risks, the president continues to use the Communist Chinese government-tied app for his 2024 presidential campaign.
The Biden-Harris campaign officially joined TikTok during the Superbowl, according to the BBC. The verified account @bidenhq on TikTok has 205,300 followers, 1.9 million likes, and the brief bio: “Grows the economy.” The account has posted over two dozen videos.
MRC Free Speech America reported last April that the Biden campaign recruited TikTok influencers for online propaganda. The hypocritical move came soon after the White House set a deadline for removing TikTok from federal devices. Dan Schneider, Vice President for MRC Free Speech America, said at the time, “We are witnessing the re-launch of the Biden from the Basement campaign. Everyone knows that Joe can’t string together two coherent sentences, so he is already recruiting young people to be his mouthpiece.”
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) owns a board seat and a financial stake in TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance. Multiple whistleblowers and a Buzzfeed investigation presented evidence last year that ByteDance has direct access to U.S. TikTok data. A 2023 lawsuit from a former ByteDance executive even alleged that the CCP can access U.S. ByteDance data and that ByteDance pushes CCP propaganda on TikTok.
Ironically, Biden’s new order, as reported by The Post, is aimed at preventing data brokers and other companies from selling access to large sensitive information stores. These include geolocation and genomic data, which could now no longer go to buyers in “countries of concern” such as China, Iran, and Russia. The Post cited Biden administration officials’ comments to industry and civil society experts.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact TikTok via email at communitymanager@tiktok.com and demand Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment and provide transparency. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
