Giovanna Gonzalez of Chicago demonstrates outside the U.S. Capitol following a press conference by TikTok creators to voice opposition to the “Protecting Americans from Apps Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act,” pending crackdown legislation against TikTok in the House of Representatives, on Capitol Hill in Washington, United States, March 12, 2024.
Craig Hudson | Reuters
TikTok more than doubled its ad spending to more than $4.5 million as part of a campaign to fight a possible U.S. ban as Congress seeks to fast-track legislation to push parent company ByteDance to divest social media app.
TikTok has spent more than $2.5 million on TV ads alone since March, according to data from AdImpact. The popular social media company spent nearly $900,000 on digital ads, according to data.
Data from AdImpact at the end of March showed that TikTok initially purchased $2.1 million worth of advertising.
The House recently linked a new bill to legislation providing additional aid to Ukraine and Israel that, if passed, would give ByteDance nine months to divest TikTok or the app would be banned in the United States . The House could vote on the bill as soon as possible. SATURDAY.
President Joe Biden has said he would sign such a bill if it reaches his desk. The bill allows the president to grant ByteDance an additional 90 days from the nine-month divestment period if progress is made toward a sale.
TikTok’s increased ad spending could be a last resort by the company against the latest legislation, as the new bill appears to have key support in the Senate.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., endorsed the new bill Wednesday, welcoming the extension it would give ByteDance to potentially divest TikTok. Cantwell and his committee would be tasked with reviewing the TikTok bill if it passes the House.
The House passed a similar bill on TikTok in March, which gave the company about six months to divest the asset. This bill has since been blocked in the Senate.
Since March, the company has booked television advertising in the key battleground states of Nevada, Montana, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio.. All five states are represented by vulnerable Democratic senators, each seeking another six-year term.
Sen. Bob Casey, Democrat of Pennsylvania, is running for re-election in Pennsylvania while TikTok has spent more than $690,000 on ads in the state, according to AdImpact.
The ads represent TikTok’s latest effort to make a dent in the debate in Washington over whether ByteDance could protect the personal data of U.S. TikTok users from the Chinese government.
One of the TikTok ads that began airing in early April in markets including Pittsburgh is titled “Keep It.” Similar to the company’s other ads, it claims that American businesses are using TikTok to promote their brands and ends with the #KeepTikTok. TikTok has over 150 million users in the United States.
Another TikTok ad titled “Freedom Of Speech” aired in Philadelphia.
TikTok users previously flooded congressional offices with calls demanding that members vote against the ban. The number of such calls spiked after TikTok encouraged its users, through the app, to demand that lawmakers not pass the House’s first bill.
A TikTok spokesperson declined to comment.
Benjamin Kamisar of NBC News contributed to this story
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