‘Squad’ Democrats become star TikTok influencers while pushing against app ban
Gabe Kaminsky
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“Squad” Democrats in Congress who have pushed back against the idea of a ban on TikTok have become star influencers on the app, records show.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has signaled support based on national and privacy concerns for a ban on TikTok, the social media app owned by the multibillion-dollar Chinese technology company ByteDance. Three Democrats who have posted 93 times on the app since July 2021 while accruing over 883,000 followers have been vocal recently against ban proposals that have gained traction in Congress, according to a Washington Examiner review.
RAND PAUL BREAKS RANKS WITH GOP ON TIKTOK BAN: ‘GOES AGAINST THE FIRST AMENDMENT’
“It’s just ridiculously irresponsible,” Tom Jones, president of the American Accountability Foundation, a watchdog group, told the Washington Examiner. “It’s hard to tell which device they’re using to do it, whether it’s an official one or campaign one, but the schedules are going to be the same on both devices.”
The House approved a TikTok ban in December 2022. Competing bills have been introduced on TikTok, including an outright ban of the app spearheaded by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and John Thune (R-SD) put forth legislation in mid-March that would give the Commerce Department further powers to see if foreign business deals pose security risks.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an interagency housed under the State Department, launched a national security review of TikTok in November 2019 and recently informed the company that it must splinter off from ByteDance or face a ban. Congressional national security concerns have surged following ByteDance admitting in December 2022 that they spied on American journalists.
Three members of the left-wing Squad, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), have come out against a TikTok ban as of late. These same lawmakers still maintain accounts on the app following Congress banning it from government devices last December. Separately, federal agencies had until Wednesday to remove TikTok from government systems and devices, per a White House directive.
Ocasio-Cortez, who joined TikTok recently to issue a Saturday video disputing the notion of a ban, has the most followers among her Squad colleagues — over 457,000. Her Saturday clip has over 3.9 million views as of this writing, while she also posted a Tuesday video with over 735,000 views that called for measures to fight climate change.
On Monday, watchdog groups alleged to the Washington Examiner that Ocasio-Cortez maintains a conflict of interest while supporting TikTok. She is an adviser to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, a charity that received $150,000 in December 2022 from ByteDance, according to lobbying disclosures.
Ocasio-Cortez also notably pocketed $500 in June 2020 from an individual listed as Me Casares, a purported TikTok software engineer, according to campaign finance disclosures.
“It’s a matter of deep concern, it’s a conflict of interest for her to be shilling for TikTok at the same time that the company is bankrolling entities with which she’s affiliated,” Peter Flaherty, CEO of the National Legal and Policy Center, an ethics watchdog, said in an interview with the Washington Examiner on Monday.
https://www.tiktok.com/@aocinthehouse/video/7214318917135830318?lang=en
The Squad member with the second biggest reach on TikTok is Omar, who has over 246,000 followers and has posted 41 videos since Feb. 17, 2021, records show. Omar rolled out six videos in January following the House approving a government devices ban — including a roughly 3-minute clip directly from the House chamber on Jan. 7.
“Stay Civil,” read the caption for Omar’s video on Jan. 7, a day that saw Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) elected as House Speaker after House GOP infighting for days on who should earn the gavel. “Repost from Rep. Jimmy Gomez.”
https://www.tiktok.com/@ilhanmn/video/7186093926674255150?lang=en
On Tuesday, Omar issued a statement that likened a TikTok ban to “censorship.”
“There are very legitimate concerns about privacy and the harvesting of private user data on social media platforms, but this proposal doesn’t address those,” she said. “Instead, it singles out one platform — TikTok — and bans it outright. Aside from raising legitimate First Amendment concerns, this is bad policy.”
Bowman, the other Squad member, joined Reps. Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Robert Garcia (D-CA) on Wednesday to push back against a TikTok ban. He claimed on Monday that TikTok is a “boogeyman” and “part of a political fearmongering.”
At the same time, the New York congressman boasts over 180,000 followers on the app and has accrued 2.3 million likes. He’s posted on the app 276 times since July 2021, providing users a window into his daily thoughts, congressional operations, and policy proposals.
Bowman posted 46 videos in January, following the House’s government devices ban, records show. In one clip from Jan. 30 with the caption “we got lost,” he recorded himself in the Rayburn House Office Building with freshman members of Congress, noting, “we’re trying to find our way.”
“It’s concerning that members of the Squad have responded so nonchalantly to the real and credible threat that TikTok poses to Americans’ health, data, and who knows what else,” Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust, another ethics watchdog group, told the Washington Examiner. “They should be prioritizing our national security instead of amplifying their future political ambitions and disseminating their political platforms.”
https://www.tiktok.com/@repbowman/video/7194625871355923754?lang=en
It’s unclear whether the Democratic members have used government devices to record their TikTok posts. Spokespeople for their offices did not return the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment.
Doing so could run afoul of the ban, which stipulated that staffers and lawmakers must delete the app and refrain from downloading it on official devices. TikTok is a “high risk to users due to a number of security risks,” Catherine L. Szpindor, the House’s chief administrative officer, wrote in a December 2022 memo.
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Another watchdog group said it’s clear all government officials should be “cautious” about installing TikTok on any devices they use, based on its ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and that the Squad members have put themselves in an “ethically difficult” situation.
“Aside from the debate about restricting the application here in the United States, there are just other security issues with the app and its connections, and the willingness of the Chinese Communists to use it together to gather data inappropriately,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton told the Washington Examiner.