– It would be foolish of us to give up places where people get information about the president, Rob Flaherty, who led the White House unit for digital strategy and who is now deputy director of Biden’s re-election campaign before the election in November, defends the presence on Tiktok.
Since the 2020 election, Biden’s campaign has partnered with influencers with large followings on the app.
The law that Congress voted through, and that Biden quickly signed, means a form of ultimatum to Tiktok’s owners. The major owner, Chinese Bytedance, must sell its share within a year in order for the app not to be banned in the United States. The demand comes after concerns that the data the app collects is being passed on to, and could be used by, the Chinese state for propaganda purposes.
Tiktok’s defenders, and the company itself, argue that the app is global and that the connections to China are only in administrative corporate contexts. By all accounts, they argue, Tiktok is a stand-alone international entertainment product with no secret “Chinese” agenda.
A ban, or ruling, can take more than a year. The law will likely be challenged in court.
