WASHINGTON- Joe BidenReelection campaign plans to continue using TikTok for at least next year, despite president sign a law On Wednesday, it would ban the social media platform nationwide if its China-based parent company does not sell it within that deadline.
“A fragmented media environment requires us to show up and meet voters where they are — and that includes online,” a Biden campaign official told NBC News. “Tik Tok is one of many places we ensure our content is seen by voters.”
The Biden campaign says it plans to use “every tool we have to reach young voters where they are” and has pledged to continue using “enhanced security measures.”
The statement comes a day after his campaign refused to comment on whether he would continue to use TikTok, before the bill was finally passed.
Initially, sources close to Biden’s re-election effort said the 2024 campaign would not use the app, but the campaign ultimately decided to launch its own account in February.
The videos they post often feature Biden himself – even though his own White House has said that is the case.legitimate national security concerns regarding data integrity” on the app. A second campaign official said it was still too early to say whether Biden would still be part of TikTok’s content.
The @bidenhq account has more than 306,000 followers and has posted nearly 120 videos. Biden’s 2024 competitor, former President Donald Trump, is not on TikTok.
The new law gives ByteDance, the Beijing-based parent company of TikTok, nine months to sell the application or face a ban in the United States. The president could grant a one-time 90-day extension, but even without that, the ban could not begin until January.
Biden’s team also expects the legislation to be challenged in court, which could also delay the timeline for a possible ban in the United States.
Aides acknowledge that many young people are worried about what signing this bill could mean for one of their favorite online apps, but the campaign insisted the move would not hurt their position among this key demographic.
“As he did in 2020, Joe Biden will beat Trump with the support of young voters who know he kept his promises and committed to addressing the issues that matter most to them: tackling climate change , reform gun laws, reduce student loans, and build a country that moves us forward, not backward,” the senior campaign official said.
“Reducing the youth vote to the use of a social media application is not serious, inaccurate and insulting: election after election, young people continue to show us that they understand the issues of this moment and that they will vote as if their future depends on it – because they do.”
The second campaign manager highlighted that their digital reach extends well beyond TikTok, with Facebook, Instagram and a network of solidarity influencers as key elements of this strategy.
The campaign boasts of having launched the largest and oldest…
