Biden camp weighs joining TikTok to sway young voters months after purging app from federal devices: report

The Biden campaign is reportedly considering joining TikTok in an effort to reach out to young voters and showcase a presidential bid, months after the Trump-led government had issued an executive order to purge the social media app from all federal devices.

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Biden’s team has held earlier internal talks about signing up for the video-sharing platform, with executive director Greg Schultz telling the publication this week that the campaign was ‘considering every platform available’ to reach young voters who have ‘embraced, organically’ the app.

The move would be a dramatic reversal of the Trump campaign’s stance on the app. President Donald Trump had, in the past months, railed against TikTok, claiming that the app was a ‘threat’ to Americans’ security and livelihoods. He had asked the app to sell its operations in the United States or face restrictions here.

However, some experts have said that the Biden campaign risks alienating some of its core supporters if the campaign gets associated with an app whose parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, has been accused of sharing user data with the Chinese government.

The Biden camp said it was taking national security seriously and would ensure that any data used in its TikTok account remains secure, adding that any decision to join the platform is purely an effort to reach new voters.