Global Times, the Chinese state media tabloid, on Thursday accused the Biden administration of having "double standards" that are "fundamentally untenable" by using TikTok in his political campaign even as his administration continued to raise security concerns about whether the popular social media app might be sharing user data with China's Communist Party government.
"As a social media app that has been heavily portrayed by the US as a 'national security threat,' TikTok being used by Biden's campaign highlights the unjust suppression of TikTok by American politicians and proves the hype nonsense," the Chinese Communist paper said.
The FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, could share user data — such as browsing history, location, and biometric identifiers — with that country's authoritarian government.
Biden in 2022 signed legislation banning the use of TikTok by the federal government's nearly 4 million employees on devices owned by its agencies, with limited exceptions for law enforcement, national security, and security research purposes.
Biden's reelection campaign this month defended its new TikTok account as a vital way to boost its appeal with young voters.
At the White House, though, national security spokesman John Kirby said, "There are still national security concerns about the use of TikTok on government devices and there's been no change to our policy not to allow that."
Kirby referred most questions about TikTok to the Biden campaign and ducked a more general query about whether it was wise to use the app at all. He said the potential security issues "have to do with concerns about the preservation of data and potential misuse of that data and privacy information by foreign actors."
Global Times said the move by Biden's campaign team "reflects the deep hypocrisy of American politicians. "When the U.S. needs to hype up the theory that 'China threatens American hegemony in the world,' TikTok is viewed by US politicians as a tool 'manipulated by China.'"
"However, when it comes to politicians' own interests, it becomes a tool to get closer to the public, reflecting how utilitarian American politics is," the article concluded. "In the end, we are witnessing that Washington's behavior toward TikTok is unacceptable to the public and society, so politicians have to choose to compromise for votes."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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