KEY POINTS
- President Biden's election campaign joined TikTok on Sunday
- The inaugural post used the NFL's Super Bowl as a talking point with Biden in a series of questions
- Biden campaign advisors reportedly said they would 'continue meeting voters where they are'
President Joe Biden's election campaign has joined TikTok in a bid to make his re-election pitch to young voters.
Using the NFL's Super Bowl as a talking point, the campaign put up an inaugural post on the short-form video app Sunday via the Biden-Harris HQ TikTok account.
Biden's TikTok presence is noteworthy because the Chinese social media app, owned by Beijing-based tech behemoth ByteDance, has been a point of contention in different corners of the world and is currently banned on most U.S. government-issued devices.
Biden signed a bill in 2022 that barred most federal government-owned devices from using TikTok, and lawmakers in the past have also called for a complete ban on the social media app over concerns about user data being accessed by the Chinese government.
In a statement, Biden campaign advisors said they would "continue meeting voters where they are," according to Reuters. They also said they would use other social media apps like Meta's Instagram and even Truth Social, which is owned by Biden's Republican presidential rival Donald Trump.
A campaign official said they will be taking "advanced safety precautions" for its devices, and added that the campaign presence on TikTok was separate from the app's ongoing security review.
The Biden campaign's inaugural post on TikTok showed the 81-year-old president being quizzed with the Super Bowl-themed questions.
When asked about which team he would be cheering for in the Sunday game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers, Biden chose the Philadelphia Eagles because he would otherwise "be sleeping alone."
"My wife's a Philly girl," he added.
He was also asked who he prefers from the football-playing Kelce brothers, Jason Kelce or Travis Kelce, who is currently dating music sensation Taylor Swift.
"Mama Kelce," Biden said, adding, "I understand she makes great chocolate chip cookies."
The rapid-fire questions also touched upon a conspiracy theory that was recently gaining traction among right-wingers online. The theory claims the Super Bowl was rigged in favor of the Chiefs so that Swift would have a larger platform to make a Biden endorsement.
When asked if he was "deviously plotting to rig the season so the Chiefs would make the Super Bowl" or the Chiefs were "just being a good football team," Biden joked, "I'd get in trouble if I told you."
