Biden Signs Legislation That Could Ban TikTok, Faces Criticism Among Young Voters

President Joe Biden signed the legislation that could effectively ban TikTok in the U.S. after the Senate passed the bill.

Biden, whose campaign has previously focused on attracting young voters on TikTok, is now facing criticism after his decision.

TikTok Faces Ban or Sell Dilemma

The TikTok legislation is part of the $95 billion package and was passed 79-18. Previously, the President stated that he would immediately sign it after it passes the Senate.

The social media giant has been the center of the news. The recent changes to the TikTok bill stated that ByteDance, its parent company, will be given six months to divest its shares in the platform.

TikTok would have to face a platform ban if the company fails to decide to divest. Some lawmakers argued that the timeframe was too short for a deal that could cost tens of billions of dollars.

TikTok Users Critizes Biden's Decision

Biden had developed relationships with TikTok influencers during the 2020 election. The President has also produced TikTok content to promote his reelection campaign, prompting accusations of his contradictory actions towards the platform.

"There's a core hypocrisy to the Biden administration supporting the TikTok ban while at the same time using TikTok for his campaign purposes," said Kahlil Greene, who has more than 647,000 followers as the "Gen Z Historian."

The Biden campaign team defended the President's approach and rejected the idea that White House policy is contradicting its political efforts.

"We would be silly to write off any place where people are getting information about the president," said Rob Flaherty, Biden's deputy manager for reelection campaign and former lead of White House's Office of Digital Strategy.

Among TikTok's 170 million U.S. users, one-third of the adult population under 30s rely on the platform to get news.

The White House implemented a government-wide policy that banned the app from most devices since 2022. Biden officially joined TikTok at the height of the Super Bowl.