Chinese social media platform TikTok buys $2.1 million in TV ads as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would ban the app if parent company ByteDance doesn’t sell it within six months did.
TikTok, an app owned by a company with the beneficiary of a hostile foreign state, has booked TV ads in key battleground states including Nevada, Montana, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio, according to data from AdImpact. It became clear. report By CNBC.
The ad reportedly features people wondering what they would do without TikTok.
In the commercial, one person says, “Think about the 5 million small business owners who depend on TikTok to feed their families,” while another says, “I wonder if it will all disappear. It’s very sad to see,” he added.
“It’s going to impact a lot of people’s lives,” one woman says in the ad obtained by CNBC.
Notably, the five states the Chinese app chose to run these ads are each represented by vulnerable Senate Democrats up for re-election this November.
The commercial will also air in New York, Massachusetts and Minnesota, the report added, with New York and Massachusetts “important advertising markets for reaching young people and journalists,” and Minnesota. It is said to be headed by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who has been a fierce critic of TikTok and is up for re-election this year.
People appearing in TikTok ads lament the app’s ban, but a bill recently passed overwhelmingly by the House of Representatives does not call for an outright ban, but rather gives ByteDance an ultimatum. The US government says it will only ban apps if China bans them. Tech giants won’t sell it.
The bill currently states that if ByteDance, a company beholden to the Chinese Communist Party, does not sell TikTok within six months, the app will no longer be available for download on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. .
This is not the first time a foreigner has tried to tug at the heartstrings of Americans using words that they believe will resonate with them.
TikTok CEO Shou Chu sarcastically told Americans to “protect our constitutional rights” in response to a bipartisan bill that would separate the app from Chinese communists. I called out.
Similarly, a TikTok spokesperson told CNBC, “We want to remind the public that our government is trampling on the free speech rights of 170 million Americans and destroying 7 million small businesses across the country.” I think the people should know.”
This isn’t the first time TikTok has appeared to be interfering in US elections.
As Breitbart News reported, dilbert As cartoonist Scott Adams pointed out: [2022 midterm] The outcome of the election is affecting groups of Americans that China controls through TikTok. ”
“Allowing TikTok, a Chinese company, to become the primary channel for the most important group of voters in the United States. Do you see any problems there?” Adams asked.
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