“TikTok is one of the most dangerous social media assets that we could have,” Haley said. “Every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say.”
The fight highlighted a growing dilemma for politicians — especially within the Republican Party. TikTok offers one of the most potent online megaphones for politicians to reach millennial and Gen Z voters. But it is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, raising a host of national security concerns as politicians become increasingly wary of the competitive threat posed by China.
As the 2024 election draws closer, politicians are facing a TikTok paradox. If they join the app that is used by millions of Americans, they risk appearing weak on China as the debate about whether to ban the popular app continues in Washington.
Several states have banned TikTok on government devices, and ByteDance and the U.S. government are back at the negotiating table after a contentious debate over the app’s future in the United States. TikTok has repeatedly dismissed politicians’ claims that the data it collects from U.S. users is siphoned by the Chinese government, and government officials have provided little evidence of the app’s harm.
Calling it “one of the most dangerous social media apps there is,” Haley said TikTok can access users’ contacts, financial information, emails and text messages, but there is no proof for that. A review by The Washington Post found Facebook and other U.S.-made apps gathered just as much data as TikTok, if not more. She and Ramaswamy began shouting over each other as she criticized his general stance toward China.
Ramaswamy, 37, a political novice who is pitching himself as the next iteration of former president Donald Trump, defended his decision to join the app as politically savvy.
“I have a radical idea for the Republican Party,” he said. “We need to win elections. And part of how we win elections is reaching the next generation of young Americans where they are.”
Yet even as Ramaswamy pushes forward on TikTok, he repeatedly said that children under the age of 16 should not “be using addictive social media.”
During the debate, moderators also pressed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on whether his critical stance toward U.S. tech companies could give China an edge.
“We’re not saying you don’t want to do business, but you want it to be a free market,” DeSantis said, pushing back against the moderators. “And right now they’re monopolies.”
Drew Harwell contributed to this report.
