Biden Opens TikTok Account Despite Previous Ban, Sparking Debate Over Security Risks

Despite previous security concerns that led to a federal ban on using China’s TikTok, President Joe Biden of the United States has opened a TikTok account before this year’s election.

According to foreign media outlets such as CNN on the 12th (local time), Biden launched his official online campaign by opening an account on TikTok’s short-form platform the day before the biggest event in American professional sports, the NFL Super Bowl.

His first video, “lol hey guys,” features a light-hearted Q&A about the Super Bowl. Furthermore, the internet meme “Dark Brandon,” often used to mock Biden, also appeared at the end of the video.

Following this, videos attacking Donald Trump’s opponent in this election were sequentially posted.

TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is a short-form video platform gaining popularity among young Americans.

The Biden administration has acknowledged that TikTok is not operated from China. However, it has expressed concern about the significant access to personal information that the Chinese government has over its jurisdictional companies. There is a concern that personal information could indirectly be leaked to the Chinese government. As a result, last year, the federal government regulated its use by deleting the TikTok app from all electronic devices used by the federal government.

The Republican Party criticized Biden, who had been regulating TikTok, for opening an account ahead of the election, calling it a “security risk.”

A Republican senator, Tom Cotton, who has criticized TikTok as a spy app for the Chinese Communist Party, also mocked Biden as a “man with a failing memory.”

Biden’s move seems to be aimed at overcoming the difficulties in securing young supporters within the Democratic Party. Politico, a political specialist media outlet, viewed this campaign as taking place where “Biden has failed to establish a solid base among young people who form the core support base of the Democratic Party.”

However, the White House argues that Biden’s election activities are unrelated to federal regulations on usage. John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council (NSC) at the White House, stated, “The ban on platform use on government devices is still valid today.”