GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley reiterated her call to ban TikTok on Sunday, citing privacy concerns with the social media app after President Biden’s campaign joined earlier this month.
During a Fox News town hall with “America Reports” co-anchor John Roberts, Haley took aim at TikTok for being “incredibly dangerous” and said the U.S. should have banned it from the start. When asked if Republicans should join TikTok to engage with younger voters after Biden’s campaign posted on the platform for the first time during the Super Bowl, Haley criticized the app and jabbed former President Trump for not banning it.
“Well, President Trump said he would ban TikTok, and then when President Xi asked him not to, that fell to the wayside,” she said during the town hall.
“And even if it is helpful in elections, I think that the tone at the top and the leadership of what you show matters,” she added. “If I were to go and jump on TikTok or Republicans were to jump on TikTok, that’s not showing anyone why they shouldn’t be on it.”
Haley has been vocal about supporting a TikTok ban, clashing with former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in a debate last year when he mentioned her daughter when talking about social media regulation.
During Sunday’s town hall, she went on to claim China can look at a user’s personal information, like phone contacts and finances, from TikTok.
“They can impact what you see. And they can impact what you hear. That is the dangerous part of TikTok. And India has banned it. You had Nepal just banned it because it was causing social disruption,” she said.
“America can’t be the last country to ban TikTok. Let’s end it now and stop it so it doesn’t hurt our children any further,” she continued.
When reached for comment on Haley’s remarks, a spokesperson for the former president’s campaign accused Haley, who previously served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, of being a “puppet” of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The spokesperson also said that Haley has “bowed down” to Beijing “throughout her career.”
The Biden campaign’s decision to join TikTok sparked bipartisan pushback because many critics have expressed national security concerns about the platform. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), the chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), urged Biden to “reverse course” on joining TikTok last week.
Many state governments and the federal government have banned TikTok from government devices over security concerns.
A spokesperson for Biden’s campaign told The Hill the campaign is taking safety precautions and has implemented security protocols around its decision to join TikTok. The spokesperson also noted that the presence on TikTok is independent from the review being conducted by The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) into the platform
The Hill has reached out to TikTok for comment.
–Updated at 2:26 p.m.