China’s TikTok social media platform has purchased $2.1 million in television ads as the U.S. Senate is reviewing legislation that could ban the app if its parent company ByteDance doesn’t sell it within six months.
TikTok, an app owned by company beholden to a hostile foreign country, has reserved TV advertising in the key battleground states of Nevada, Montana, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, data from AdImpact reveals, according to a report by CNBC.
The advertisements reportedly feature people wondering what they would do without TikTok.
Shou Zi Chew, chief executive officer of TikTok Inc. Photographer: Bryan van der Beek/Bloomberg via Getty Images
“Think about the five million small business owners that rely on TikTok to provide for their families,” one individual says in the commercial, while another adds, “To see all of that disappear would be so sad.”
“It’s gonna affect a lot of people’s livelihoods,” one woman says in an ad obtained by CNBC.
Notably, the five states that the Chinese app has chosen to run these advertisements in are each represented by vulnerable Senate Democrats seeking reelection this November.
The commercials are also set to run in New York, Massachusetts, and Minnesota, the report adds, noting that New York and Massachusetts are “key ad markets for reaching young people and journalists,” and that Minnesota is represented by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), a fierce critic of TikTok, who is also up for reelection this year.
While the people in the TikTok ads lament over the app being banned, the legislation that recently overwhelmingly passed the House of Representatives does not call for an outright ban, but gives ByteDance an ultimatum, saying the U.S. government would only ban the app if the Chinese tech giant doesn’t sell it.
The bill currently states that if ByteDance — a company beholden to the Chinese Communist Party — doesn’t sell TikTok within six months, then the app will not be available to download on the Apple App store and the Google Play store.
This is not the first time foreigners have tried to pull at the heartstrings of Americans by using language that they believe resonates with U.S. citizens.
TikTok CEO Shou Chew responded to the bipartisan legislation seeking to sever the app from the Chinese communists by ironically telling Americans, “Protect your constitutional rights.”
Similarly, a spokesperson for TikTok told CNBC, “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.”
This is also not the first time TikTok appears to be meddling in U.S. elections.
As Breitbart News reported, Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams pointed out that “the group of Americans that controlled the [2022 midterm] election outcome are the group of Americans that China controls through TikTok.”
“Allowing TikTok, a Chinese company — to be the primary channel for the most important group of voters in the United States. Do you see any problem there?” Adams asked.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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