Democratic politicians know that the popular app TikTok is Chinese spyware. That won’t stop them from using it to campaign.

Politico’s Playbook newsletter on Wednesday detailed how Democrats are using the app to try and reach younger voters and future voters. The Democratic National Committee advised campaigns to avoid the app in 2020, but the outsize emphasis the party puts on social media meant that such a turn was inevitable. With President Joe Biden’s approval among younger voters (along with everyone else) tanking since he took office, Democrats think they must turn to TikTok to save them.

But their concerns about the app haven’t changed. The DNC has “dedicated devices for TikTok that are specifically isolated” from important files and assets. Rather than recognizing that the Chinese app is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party and is sending American users’ data to China and working to ban it, Democrats have embraced it.

Former President Donald Trump had been working toward banning the app, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance. ByteDance had promised to “further deepen cooperation” with the Chinese Communist Party, and, by law, the app cannot refuse to share data with the CCP. But Biden backed off the issue when he took office, and TikTok has gone on to become the most visited website in the world.

TikTok has been caught logging keystrokes and copying users’ clipboards, and it was able to circumvent protections put in place by the Apple and Google app stores. The Defense Department told military personnel to remove the app from both government and personal devices, and Wells Fargo instructed employees to do the same. The DNC viewed the app in the same light in 2020. Now, Biden and the Democratic Party view TikTok influencers and engagement as crucial to their political messaging.

The fact that DNC officials have dedicated devices for the app shows that they know exactly what it is. They should reject it as the Chinese spyware it is and encourage Americans to do the same. But Democrats can’t resist the siren’s song of social media, so instead, they plan to treat it as any other platform. That is, after they make sure the app isn’t installed on any devices that hold their important data.

Source: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/desperate-dems-turn-to-chinese-spyware-to-reach-young-voters