TikTok isn’t giving up without a fight. The social media app has strengthened its defense against the U.S. Senate, which currently has the app’s fate in its hands as it reviews a bill that could ban it from app stores. TikTok has recently purchased $2.1 million worth of TV ad space, according to data obtained by CNBC, and it has one message for senators “#KeepTikTok.”
In one of the new ads, TikTok claims that “170 million Americans have built a life” on the app. It also shows various people giving personal testimonials about how the app helped them find success and appears to encourage people to protest in front of Congress to stop them from banning the app.
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“It’s gonna affect a lot of people’s livelihoods,” said one person in the ad. “We have got to make enough noise about this so that they don’t take away our voice.”
The ads started running on March 27 in key election states such as Nevada, Ohio, Montana, New York, Minnesota, etc., according to CNBC. The ads are expected to stop airing on TVs on either April 14 or April 20.
The move from TikTok comes weeks after the House passed a bill that seeks to ban the app in the U.S. in an effort to “protect the national security of the United States.”
Lawmakers are concerned that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, could send sensitive user data on its platform to the Chinese government and also contribute to the spread of online misinformation. These are accusations that TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has denied.
Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 31, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The bill is now in the hands of the Senate Commerce Committee who may hold a hearing on the bill before it votes on it, though a hearing is currently not scheduled. If the Senate passes the bill, it will then be sent to President Joe Biden, who has revealed that he is planning to sign the bill.
Buying TV ad space isn’t the only campaign effort from TikTok that aims to prevent it from being banned. When the bill to ban TikTok began progressing in Congress, the app sent a push notification to users telling them that the app is “at risk of being shut down in the U.S.,” and that users should call their local congressional representative and “speak up now” before their right of “free expression” is taken away.
This is a move that gained scrutiny from some lawmakers. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) claimed that the push notification to users, which went to minors, is the reason why lawmakers are looking to ban the app.
“This is exactly the reason why so many of our colleagues voted for the bill,” said Krishnamoorthi while speaking to CBS News. “They don’t want a foreign adversary controlling social media apps using geolocation to target minor children to call members of Congress or interfere in our elections. This is exactly the reason why this particular legislation is necessary now.”
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