Pres. Biden joins TikTok amid nat’l security concerns

Transcript

00:00 U.S. President Joe Biden has joined TikTok in an effort to connect with younger voters.

00:04 But while many users have welcomed the move, security experts and legislators have expressed

00:09 disapproval amid long-standing privacy concerns surrounding the use of the Chinese-owned app.

00:15 VOA's Veronica Balderas Iglesias has more.

00:18 Joe Biden's presidential campaign account on TikTok garnered more than 90,000 followers

00:25 in the first two days since joining on Super Bowl Sunday. The Chinese-owned social media app is a

00:31 regular source of news for about a third of U.S. adults under 30, according to Pew Research. And

00:38 the Biden campaign's move to get their political messaging across to that demographic doesn't come

00:43 as a surprise to some analysts. "If you look at polling, there's been dramatic decreases in youth

00:49 support for Biden compared to Trump. So this is, I think, one of their stronger tools to reach that

00:55 group." China-related security and surveillance concerns led the Biden administration to ban the

01:01 use of the TikTok app on government-owned devices last year. The former head of U.S. Cyber Command

01:07 outlined some of those concerns during a congressional hearing last March. "TikTok

01:12 concerns me for a number of different reasons. One is the data that they have. Secondly,

01:16 is the algorithm and the control. Who has the algorithm? Third is the broad platform. It's not

01:20 only the fact that you can influence something, but you can also, you know, turn off the message

01:24 as well." Some lawmakers have questioned the Biden campaign's decision to join TikTok,

01:30 including the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Democratic Senator Mark Warner. "I

01:34 think that we still need to find a way to follow in real, which is prohibited TikTok. So I'm a

01:41 little worried about a mixed message." Republican Senator Josh Hawley took to X, formerly known as

01:46 Twitter, to criticize Biden for joining what he called a "Chinese spy app," despite banning it

01:53 on federal devices. White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby had this to say

02:00 during Monday's White House briefing. "There are still national security concerns about the use of

02:04 TikTok on government devices, and there's been no change to our policy." The Biden campaign states

02:09 their presence on TikTok is independent from a review by the Interagency Committee on Foreign

02:14 Investment in the United States that is weighing a nationwide ban of the app. For its part,

02:20 the Chinese Foreign Ministry says there is no proof of foul play and condemns the moves to

02:26 restrict the app. TikTok's CEO, Zhou Sichu, denies he or his company have any links to the Chinese

02:34 Communist Party and has repeatedly told Congress that his company is improving the platform's

02:39 security mechanisms. "Making sure that we're protecting and firewalling U.S. user data

02:44 from unwanted foreign access." The average TikTok user is not that worried, says UCLA professor

02:50 Tim Grohling. "I've had a student say this almost verbatim, 'There are over a billion users of TikTok,

02:55 why would they care about my data? What do I have that's at risk?' And, you know, in the aggregate,

03:02 the answer is there's quite a bit of risk." The Biden campaign affirms it is taking advanced

03:08 safety precautions around the devices they use to post content on TikTok and plan to continue

03:15 expanding their online influencer network. Veronica Valera-Siglesias, VOA News, Washington.