Joe Biden’s campaign announced Sunday that he is now on TikTok, despite the fact that Biden signed a bill banning the platform on all devices assigned to federal employees a year ago.
Hey by the way, we just joined TikTok
Follow us: https://t.co/KbtdOh2O4a pic.twitter.com/vDeXUzhb9W
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) February 12, 2024
Several respondents pointed out that Biden signed into law a limited TikTok ban in December 2022 as part of the 4,126-page spending bill.
Furthermore, in March last year, Biden threatened to ban TikTok altogether unless the app’s Chinese owners agree to spin off their share of the social media platform.
The ultimatum was made by Biden’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, in response to concerns about the amount of data TikTok trawls, and the platform’s links to the Chinese Communist Party.
In the same month, The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to advance a bill, titled Deterring America’s Technological Adversaries, that would clear the way for a full ban on the app.
A similar bipartisan bill, called Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology (“RESTRICT”) Act, was introduced in the Senate around the same time.