One GOP senator argues that President Joe Biden could have banned the communist Chinese government-tied TikTok, but chose not to do so for personal reasons.
The debate about banning TikTok continues to rage as legislation has gone to the Senate. Biden said he would sign the legislation, yet continues to use TikTok and have TikTok influencers helping his campaign. Indeed, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told 97.1 FM Talk’s The Marc Cox Morning Show Podcast that he doubts Biden will sign the legislation. “They think that their voters are on TikTok,” Hawley declared, referring to Democrats.
“The real truth is Biden could have banned it,” Hawley said, as reported by Audacy, the publisher and parent company of 97.1 FM. “Trump tried to ban it when he was president. Biden has had years now to act. He hasn’t done it.” Biden is using the app for his Basement 2.0 campaign in 2024. “In fact, Biden is on TikTok, and the reason is the Democrats secretly love it,” Hawley added.
On Thursday, MRC Free Speech America Vice President Dan Schneider pointed out the same hypocrisy in an X post. “Joe Biden just posted his 92nd TikTok video after banning 4 million federal employees from using it,” Schneider wrote.
Meanwhile, Hawley explained the security risks of allowing TikTok to operate in the U.S. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) owns a board seat and maintains a financial stake in TikTok’s parent company ByteDance. A 2023 lawsuit alleged that a “backdoor” through ByteDance enabled the CCP to access U.S. user data. Hawley evidently believes that allegation. “Whatever the problem is, it’s a backdoor for spying by the Chinese Communist Party,” he exclaimed during the radio interview.
A U.S. company should buy TikTok to mitigate the security risks, Hawley insisted. “ByteDance, the parent company, would either have to sell TikTok or else if they don’t sell it, then they’d have to shut it down. We can argue about, you know, the exact details of the bill and is it written precisely the correct way? But I think this is the right thing,” the senator added.
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.
