To TikTok or not to TikTok? One GOP candidate joins the app even as he calls it ‘digital fentanyl’

By MEG KINNARD and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON
Associated Press

Republican presidential hopefuls have largely shunned TikTok, the hugely popular video-sharing app that many conservatives accuse of being a spy mechanism for China. But entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy recently became the first 2024 candidate to join the platform, which has over 150 million U.S. users. That’s even as he’s accused Beijing of using TikTok to push what he called “digital fentanyl” to Americans and still says Congress should ban it entirely. Everyone in the GOP primary field faces the same conundrum. The candidates want to reach younger voters who aren’t watching television ads but don’t want to support an app they say endangers American national security. TikTok rejects arguments that it is a security risk.