Did Joe Biden ban TikTok for US workers but start a campaign account? Fact-checking Sen. Katie Britt

Sen. Katie Britt on Capitol Hill, 5-3-2023 — Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., speaks during an interview with the Associated Press, Wednesday, May 3, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP)

As U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., delivered the Republican response to President Joe Biden’s 2024 State of the Union address, she pointed out a place his governance and his campaign clash.

Criticizing Biden’s foreign policy, she described how China spreads “propaganda” through the likes of TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance Ltd.

“And what does President Biden do? Well, he bans TikTok for government employees, but creates an account for his own campaign,” she said March 7. “You can’t make this stuff up.”

Britt is correct in saying that Biden’s campaign uses TikTok, even after he limited its access for federal government employees.

In signing the Consolidated Appropriations Act in 2022, Biden generally barred federal government employees from using TikTok on agency-owned devices. There are exceptions for law enforcement, national security interests and security research.

NBC News reported in 2023 that Biden’s campaign would not be on TikTok, citing three anonymous sources. But on Feb. 11, on the day of the Super Bowl LVIII, “BidenHQ” posted its first TikTok video — a cheeky reference to the Taylor Swift-as-CIA asset conspiracy theory.

Wired and The Associated Press reported that the campaign uses a separate device specifically to log into and access TikTok, isolating it from communications on other devices.

In recent days, the White House has embraced a bipartisan bill that would prevent ByteDance-owned apps from appearing on app stores or U.S. websites. This means ByteDance would need to sell TikTok or face a national ban.

We asked Biden’s campaign for comment on this and didn’t hear back.

PolitiFact has a fact-checking partnership with TikTok; you can read more about it here.

Britt said Biden banned government employees from using TikTok while using it for his campaign. The ban on the app applied to devices owned by agencies. With that note, we rate this claim Mostly True.

Truth-o-meter Ruling

Mostly True

IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT

In 2022, President Joe Biden banned the use of TikTok by federal government employees on devices owned by agencies.
Biden’s campaign posted its first TikTok in February. His campaign said it uses a separate device for using the app.
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