Representative Troy Nehls (R-TX) and Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) are calling on President Joe Biden (D) to stop the usage of his TikTok account. Recently, the President signed a law forcing ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent company, to sell its shares to a government-approved buyer.
President Biden launched his TikTok account on the day of the Super Bowl – Sunday, February 11 – and has faced criticism because of the TikTok issue.
Now that the Commander-In-Chief has officially signed legislation to possibly ban the social media giant, Rep. Nehls believes he should suspend his account for good.
“Despite signing legislation into law acknowledging the national security threat posed by TikTok, Joe Biden’s presidential campaign continues using TikTok, blatantly ignoring the grave concerns his own administration’s officials have raised,” said Congressman Nehls. “By continuing to use TikTok, Joe Biden is putting politics over the safety of the American people. I’m proud to join Senator Ernst in calling on Joe Biden to suspend the use of his campaign’s TikTok account until it is out of the CCP’s hands and put the American people first.”
Furthermore, in a letter to President Biden, Rep. Nehls and Sen. Ernst shared their concerns with his TikTok account.
“TikTok has a proven track record of spying on U.S. citizens. China-based ByteDance executives used TikTok to spy on American journalists reporting on the application's CCP ties,” write Nehls and Ernst. “ByteDance employees reportedly even had access to a search tool allowing them to access the friends list of U.S. politicians and their families—including members of your own family.”
Moreover, they would continue to label Biden as a hypocrite for not following his own policy and his own advisors regarding TikTok.
“Unfortunately, your campaign appears poised to ignore your own administration officials’ warnings. On February 12, 2024, your campaign joined TikTok, despite the long-standing security problems associated with using the CCP spyware. We are similarly worried that many members of your party also have TikTok accounts, using it to disseminate their political message despite the risks associated with the application,” the legislators wrote.
They concluded, “The national security threats TikTok poses are grave. Until TikTok is out of CCP hands, we call on you to suspend your TikTok account. Leadership starts at the very top, and we hope you can set a good example to the many Americans using TikTok by suspending the use of this application until we know for sure that it is safe for use.”
Congressman Nehls represents Texas’ 22nd District.
