President Joe Biden’s 2024 Campaign just rolled out a TikTok account after the Super Bowl on Sunday. That decision led to much outcry, as the Biden Administration is currently contemplating a ban of the app over its close connections to the CCP and the amount of American data that it harvests. That outcry was particularly fierce during the Monday, February 12 White House Press Briefing, with FNC White House Correspondent Jacqui Heinrich pressing Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council John Kirby for answers over the account.
Particularly, Heinrich demanded to know how the Biden Campaign could justify creating a TikTok account and running content on the platform at the same time that it is weighing implementing a nation-wide ban of the app.
Kicking off the questioning, Heinrich asked, “John, just following up on this TikTok stuff. Is the CFIUS [the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States] review still happening?” Kirby didn’t give an answer, instead saying, “I’d have to refer you to CFIUS. I’m not in a position to confirm one way or another what they’re looking at.”
Heinrich tried again, asking, “So, is the administration still weighing a ban on TikTok?” Kirby again told her to talk to CFIUS, but did admit that there are “national security concerns.” He said, “Again, I have nothing for you on that, Jacqui, I mean, I’d have to refer you to to CFIUS. All I can speak to credibly, which I have today, is that from an NSC perspective, there are still national security concerns about the use of TikTok on government devices, and there’s been no change to our policy not to allow that.”
She didn’t let the question go, asking, “Can you help me understand though, like, why there wouldn’t be any communication between CFIUS and the administration broadly and with the National Security Council —” Cutting her off, Kirby said, “I didn’t say there wasn’t, I just said I’m not able to speak to issues regarding CFIUS. You’d have to talk to them. It’s an independent body, and it’s not something, I can’t speak for them.”
Then Heinrich cut to the chase, bringing up Biden’s use of TikTok and asking how he could use the app while considering a ban because of the national security concerns surrounding it. She asked, “I think we’re all just trying to square why the president would use this platform that his administration is weighing a national ban on because of national security concerns.”
Responding, Kirby again dodged giving an answer, saying, “Again, I’m not going to speak to any hypothetical ban. I can only tell you that it’s not allowed on government devices. That policy remains the case, and I just can’t speak for the campaign or their decisions, I apologize.”
Watch their back and forth here:
Marc Caputo, a reporter for the Bulwark, reported on X that the Biden Campaign firewalled the devices using TikTok to minimize data theft issues. He said, “Biden has drawn fire from TikTok critics that he’s giving his campaign’s presidential data over to the CCP. A Biden camp source says it has firewalled devices devoted solely to the app to minimize the chance of data theft.”
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