White House says no change to official TikTok policy after Biden campaign joins platform amid security concerns

Washington CNN —

The White House on Monday said there are no changes regarding the administration’s long-standing security concerns over TikTok after the President Joe Biden made his campaign debut on the platform Sunday night.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday the ban on the platform’s use on government devices “remains the case today.” He referred questions over the video to the president’s reelection campaign, which posted it.

“I don’t want to get into too much of the national security, technical reasons behind that, but it does have to do with concerns about the preservation of data and the potential misuse of that data and privacy information by foreign actors,” Kirby told reporters.

In a follow-up exchange with Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary said she was not aware the campaign planned to launch a TikTok account ahead of Sunday.

“No – I am very, very careful, as the White House press secretary … and so I do not communicate with the campaign on any strategy or anything like that. … I did not know; I knew as you all did,” she said.

In the TikTok, which was posted during the Super Bowl matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers, Biden answered a series of light-hearted Super Bowl-themed questions.

Asked to choose between the game and commercials, Biden picked the game. He responded “Mama Kelce” when asked to choose between Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and his brother, Jason, who plays for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Biden jokingly said he would “get in trouble if I told you” when asked whether he rigged the game for the Chiefs, referencing a popular conspiracy theory involving Travis Kelce’s girlfriend, superstar musician Taylor