\n<\/p>\n
TikTok Music has launched on Wednesday in Australia, Singapore and Mexico to a small group of users.<\/p>\n
Jaap Arriens | Nurphoto | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
When Joe Biden<\/a> joined TikTok on the eve of the Super Bowl last month, political scientist Maggie Macdonald was struck by what she called the “meta” nature of the president’s first post.<\/p>\n In the video, Biden poked fun at a conspiracy theory that he rigged the Super Bowl \u00e2\u0080\u0094 in favor of the Kansas City Chiefs \u00e2\u0080\u0094 to somehow help his reelection efforts. <\/p>\n “Yeah, I’m old, but I’m on TikTok, and I’m on this super online place talking about this super online concept,” Macdonald, an assistant political science professor at the University of Kentucky, said of the messaging and tone of Biden’s video.<\/p>\n While Biden’s debut on the wildly popular social media app came in a playful manner, his use of TikTok in this year’s reelection campaign is at the heart of a heated debate in Washington, D.C., about whether the service should even exist in the U.S. The app, owned by China’s ByteDance, is viewed as both an invaluable tool in trying to reach masses of young potential voters who are unplugged from mainstream media and an easy way, allegedly, for the Chinese government to spy on American consumers. <\/p>\n Members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party introduced a bill<\/a> this week that would require ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a U.S. ban, following earlier federal and state-led efforts<\/a> that never came to fruition. On Thursday, the committee voted 50-0<\/a> to send the bill to the House floor. \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Shortly after the committee advanced the bill<\/a>, Rep. Troy Balderson, R-Ohio, called<\/a> TikTok “a surveillance tool used by the Chinese Communist Party to spy on Americans and harvest highly personal data.” <\/p>\n TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has denied in Senate hearings any ties between the app and the CCP. In a statement to CNBC on Thursday, TikTok said, “The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression,” an act that “will damage millions of businesses, deny artists an audience, and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on online child sexual exploitation, at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, U.S., January 31, 2024.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Nathan Howard | Reuters<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Since Biden’s playful intro post, his campaign’s TikTok account has notched over 222,000 followers and over 2.4 million likes. With eight months until the general election and a likely rematch of the 2020 contest, Biden narrowly trails Republican challenger Donald Trump<\/a> in most national polls in what’s expected to be a tight battle to the end. <\/p>\n Biden’s age has shown up as a persistent concern in polling data, so experts say reaching out to younger audiences is key in trying to win over undecided young voters, and mobilize a traditional Democratic constituency whose members sometimes stay home on Election Day.<\/p>\n “It’s really important for him to have a presence, and for him to interact directly with voters, not just through creators and influencers,” said Aaron Earls, CEO of social media influencer firm Activate HQ, which specializes in political campaigns. “The turnout in 2020 was really significant with that younger audience and, everyone’s suggesting that maybe there will be a similar turnout with the younger audience again.”<\/p>\n During the State of the Union address<\/a> Thursday evening, Biden’s campaign posted clips of the speech on TikTok, a sign that the president plans to stick with the app despite swirling concerns in Washington. But it’s a particularly convoluted matter for Biden because, should the bill pass the full House and the Senate, it would hit the president’s desk. <\/p>\n White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told<\/a> reporters on Thursday that, “This bill is important, we welcome this step.” She said the administration plans to “meet the American people where they are,” adding that, “It doesn’t mean that we’re not going to try to figure out how to protect our national security.”<\/p>\n Biden said on Friday that he will sign the bill if Congress passes it. <\/p>\n The Biden campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n TikTok is trying to generate support from users following the House’s action on Thursday. On the app, users were greeted with a screenshot warning them that Congress was “planning a total ban of TikTok.” Multiple staffers and lawmakers told CNBC their offices were flooded with calls, mostly from kids.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n U.S. political campaigns more broadly are trying to figure out how best to utilize TikTok.<\/p>\n In recent cycles, Facebook has been the social media app of choice for campaigns because of its ability to narrowly target users with fundraising ads<\/a> and informational posts. However, Apple’s<\/a>TikTok goes to Washington<\/h2>\n