Joe Biden Slammed After Campaign Joins TikTok

Critics have lashed out at Joe Biden after the president's campaign joined TikTok—despite authorities previously flagging the Chinese-owned social media platform as a national security concern.

Biden's first video on Sunday night was titled "lol hey guys" and saw him answer a jovial series of rapid-fire questions about the Super Bowl. TikTok is a short-form video app particularly popular with young people and almost 149 million people use the site in the U.S., according to numbers-crunching website Statista.

But the platform, which is owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, has been viewed with suspicion in the West; it remains under review in the U.S. amid national security fears and has been banned from federal government-owned phones and devices. TikTok has always maintained that it protects its users' privacy and does not share U.S. user data with the Chinese government.

South Dakota's governor Kristi Noem, a Republican, posted on X (formerly called Twitter) to say: "Hey@joebiden, you've done a lot of dumb things over the last 3 years. Handing your data over to China may be the dumbest. Biden is joining TikTok—and partnering with China to spy on the American people."

Analysts have said the president's foray into TikTok is an attempt to reach younger voters who may be disengaged with politics and more traditional forms of media as he prepares to face the GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.

Newsweek has reached out by email to the White House and TikTok seeking comment.

When asked about concerns authorities had about the company's links to China, a TikTok spokesperson told Newsweek in 2022: "The TikTok service is offered in many countries around the world, but it is not available for download in China. We are committed to operating transparently, and we are always open to listening to and working with policy stakeholders to explain our approach to data governance."

During the brief video, the interviewer asks the president about a fringe conservative conspiracy theory that the NFL game had been rigged in favor of the Chiefs, to pave the way for its current power couple—pop star Taylor Swift and Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce—to endorse Biden. When asked if he was "deviously plotting" to fix the match, Biden joked: "I'd get in trouble if I told you."

By early Monday morning, the account—named bidenhq—had amassed more than 33,000 followers and the first video had been viewed 3.4 million times.

Trump does not have a TikTok account. During his time as president, he flirted with the idea of banning the app although he never did.

Biden's arrival on the platform has divided opinion online. The move was met with derision in some quarters, with his political opponents seizing on the move to question his judgment.

One X user wrote: "How ironic, he bans tiktok for govt but desperate to get votes so allows it for his benefit."

"Oh boy, I can already hear Trump rapping 'China, China, China and crucked [crooked] Joe,'" another X account posted in response to the news.

But others were pleased to see the Biden campaign reaching more social media users, and heralded the plan as a smart campaign move.

Biden supporter Victor Shi of the iGen Politics podcast posted on X: "NEW: The Biden campaign is officially on TikTok now. They just posted their first video & it's President Biden answering a series of Super Bowl questions & it's perfect. President Biden & his campaign are reaching young voters where they're at. This is huge & amazing news."

He added: "The campaign launched their first TikTok about two hours ago & for an account with zero following, the video has had nearly ONE MILLION people watch it. That's pretty massive."