TikTok launched a $2.1 million ad campaign with a clear message for senators fighting for re-election this year: block the House bill that could effectively ban the app in the United States.
“Think of the 5 million small business owners who rely on TikTok to support their families,” a purported TikTok user says in the ad. “To see it all go away would be so sad,” says another apparent user.
The company has booked TV ad space in the battleground states of Nevada, Montana, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio, according to AdImpact data.
All five states are represented by vulnerable Democratic senators, each seeking another six-year term.
Other states that will see the new TikTok ads include New York, Massachusetts and Minnesota, according to ad buying data.
The Big Apple and Beantown are key advertising markets for reaching young people and journalists. Minnesota is the home state of Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, one of TikTok’s fiercest critics in Congress. Klobuchar is also up for re-election this year.
The ads began airing Wednesday and buying is expected to end April 14 or 28, depending on where the spots air, the data shows.
One of the new ads obtained by CNBC purports to show TikTok users warning their target audience about how much money would be lost if TikTok was banned.
“This will affect many people’s livelihoods,” said a sad-looking woman.
Senate Way
Despite TikTok’s hyperbole, the legislation passed by the House was not an outright ban. Instead, it requires TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to divest itself of its holdings within approximately six months of the bill’s enactment.
If ByteDance fails to do so, TikTok will not be available for download on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, ensuring a slow death of the app among US users.
A TikTok spokesperson said House members rushed the bill’s passage and argued that lawmakers who supported the legislation described it as a “ban” on the app.
“This bill was rushed through the House precisely because its authors knew it would ultimately result in a ban,” said a company spokesperson. “Many of the bill’s biggest supporters in the House have publicly described this bill as a ‘ban’ bill.”
Yet despite passing the House by a vote of 352-65, the TikTok bill still faces an uncertain path in the Senate.
Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, speaks during a Senate Finance Committee hearing in Washington, DC, Tuesday, June 8, 2021.
Evelyn Hockstein | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., recently said senators would need time to “review the legislation” before they could share deadlines for possible passage.
President Joe Biden said he would sign the bill if it passes the Senate. Intelligence community officials recently presented senators with a classified briefing on TikTok.
Following the briefing, Commerce Committee Chair Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said her panel may need to hold a public hearing on the bill.
High pressure lobbying
A TikTok spokesperson said the ads are a way to show how the federal government could hurt small businesses if the bill passes the Senate.
“We believe the general public should know that the government is attempting to trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans and devastate 7 million small businesses across the country,” said a spokesperson for TikTok.
The company said the purchase would be larger than the $2.1 million AdImpact initially planned and that a majority of the investment would focus on national and local television ads.
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 China’s autocratic communist government.
TikTok users 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 bill.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. shared a threatening voicemail in his office regarding a possible ban on TikTok. Tillis’ office said it has received at least 1,000 calls about enforcement since the House passed his bill.
cnbc
