TikTok pressures at-risk Democratic senators
TikTok launches a campaign targeting senators in battleground states like Nevada, Montana, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. With a $2.1 million ad buy, Democrats face challenges amid Republican pressure to regain control of the Senate. Key senators like Tammy Baldwin, Jacky Rosen, and Jon Tester are in tight races, while concerns about TikTok’s national security implications remain prominent. Additional states targeted include New York, Massachusetts, and Minnesota.
TikTok is launching a campaign to target senators facing tough election challenges to try and save the popular app from a House bill threatening its future in the United States.
The $2.1 million ad buy will run in Nevada, Montana, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Democrats fighting to hold on to seats in those battleground states are under mountains of pressure as Republicans believe they are on a glide path to retaking the upper chamber.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) is up for reelection, and she has said she supports the House’s attempt to restrict the app as a national security threat. She is up against GOP challenger Eric Hovde, a businessman, who has not made his stance on the app known.
Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) is neck and neck with challenger Sam Brown. Polls show the senator leading Brown by just 1.6%. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) is leading Republican challenger Tim Sheehy by just 2%.
It is uncertain how large of a role TikTok will play in this race and others, but TikTok has been on the fringes of national security conversations since Donald Trump’s presidency. Republicans, and many Democrats, have renewed concerns about the influence the Chinese government has over the app and its ability to access information about U.S. citizens.
New York, Massachusetts, and Minnesota will also be subjected to the advertisements. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who is up for reelection, has been a strong opponent of the Chinese-owned app. She and other members of Congress questioned TikTok’s parent company ByteDance’s ability to protect user data from China in a recent hearing.
At least 150 million Americans use TikTok, including politicians such as Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA). The ad campaign presents the loss of TikTok as a total blow to many people’s livelihoods and will include national and local TV advertisements.
“Think about the 5 million small business owners that rely on TikTok to provide for their families,” one TikTok user says in the ad.
The bill is not an outright ban on the app but instead requires ByteDance to divest TikTok from its holdings in six months, or else it will be removed from U.S. app stores.
The bill passed the House by a vote of 352-65, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said senators would need time to review the legislation before timelines could be shared.
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TikTok users have bombarded congressional offices, demanding members vote against the bill. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said he has received at least 1,000 calls to his office since the House passed the bill.
“We think the public at large should know that the government is attempting to trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans and devastate 7 million small businesses nationwide,” a TikTok spokesman told CNBC News.
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