President Biden has continued to take heat from Republicans for opening an account on the popular social media app TikTok despite banning it from federal devices. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) recently spearheaded a letter demanding the President delete the account.
TikTok, which is under the ownership of China-based company ByteDance, has faced suspicion from Republicans for years for potential connections to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as a form of spyware.
"TikTok endangers national security, and this concern is aggravated by the platform’s appeal to young people in the United States. We, therefore, urge you to delete your account and set a better example for the American people by restating that TikTok is a national security threat," Sen. Rubio's letter stated bluntly.
Additionally, Sen. Rubio pointed out the irony of President Biden previously heeding the concerns of Congress about the app and banning it from federal devices at the end of 2022, yet opening an account anyway during Super Bowl LVIII nearly two years later.
"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." the letter inquired.
Representative Troy Nehls (R-TX), one of the letter's cosigners, called TikTok "a national security threat" in a separate statement and similarly urged Biden to delete the account "in order to prioritize our nation’s national security and put America first."
Rubio has long been an enemy of the Chinese app, first calling for a ban in November 2022 and filing a bill for such an action the following December. More recently, in June, Rubio demanded TikTok CEO Shou Chew face investigation for potential perjury. Chew claimed the data of American TikTok users was on servers in Singapore and Virginia, yet evidence suggested the servers were in China, contrary to Chew's statement.
