Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and 14 other Republican senators and representatives are urging President Joe Biden to delete his newly created TikTok account, given that the app is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
“TikTok, a social media app controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, is a national security risk to the United States,” Sen. Rubio said in a Tuesday statement.
“Republicans and Democrats in Congress, the U.S. Department of Defense, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and President Joe Biden’s White House acknowledge this threat,” the statement added.
Notably, TikTok is owed by the Chinese company, ByteDance, which is beholden to the hostile foreign country.
Sen. Rubio’s statement went on to point out that Biden’s re-election campaign has created an account on China’s TikTok.
Therefore, the senator and his colleague have sent a letter to the president, urging him to “immediately delete” his campaign’s TikTok account and “prioritize U.S. national security.”
“TikTok endangers national security, and this concern is aggravated by the platform’s appeal to young people in the United States,” the letter sent to Biden stated.
“Over the past several years, officials from both sides of the aisle have cautioned Americans against downloading TikTok and worked to eliminate national security risks posed by the app,” the letter asserted.
The letter continued:
For example, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray said that TikTok “screams out with national security concerns.” Paul Nakasone, former commander of U.S. Cyber Command and former Director of the National Security Agency, also called TikTok a “loaded gun.”
Furthermore, you supported legislation banning TikTok from government devices. Presumably you signed this legislation into law due to the privacy risks associated with the app. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has gone a step further, imposing a TikTok prohibition on DoD contractors. Several universities have also adopted this ban.
In short, there was a time when your administration publicly stated the threat posed by TikTok. It is incredibly troubling, then, that you are now ignoring TikTok’s well-established national security risks.
How can the federal government warn Americans about the risks of this app if the Commander in Chief uses it, too? Why should government employees be expected to honor a ban on official devices when the President rebuts the core justification for the law? And why should Americans believe you will protect them from foreign threats, when your use of the platform suggests disregard for well-known national security threats? The office of the presidency is about leadership. By downloading TikTok, you are setting a poor example for the American people, while making them less safe for the bargain.
“We urge you to delete your account and publicly acknowledge the national security threat posed by TikTok,” the letter added.
Senators that joined Rubio in signing the letter to Biden were Jerry Moran (R-KS), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Josh Hawley (R-MO).
Representatives Troy Nehls (R-TX), Byron Donalds (R-FL), Bill Posey (R-FL), Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), Jack Bergman (R-MI), Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), Aaron Bean (R-FL), John Rutherford (R-FL), Barry Moore (R-AL), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and Michael Waltz (R-FL) also signed the letter.
As Breitbart News reported, Biden recently joined the Chinese app in an effort to reach younger voters, publishing his first video on Super Bowl Sunday. The president uploaded his first TikTok video on Sunday, alongside the caption, “lol hey guys.”
@bidenhq lol hey guys
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.