CBS News
Biden reelection campaign joins TikTok — though Biden banned its use on government devices
President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign launched its account on TikTok, the popular social media app, Sunday night during the Super Bowl, despite his administration’s concerns about the app’s security and whether user data can be shared with the Chinese government.
The account “Biden HQ” posted a video captioned “lol hey guys,” featuring Mr. Biden answering “this or that” Super Bowl-related questions, like “game or halftime show?” (“Game”) and “Jason Kelce or Travis Kelce?” (Mama Kelce, for her apparently “great chocolate chip cookies.”)
In the video, the campaign and president also made light of a baseless conspiracy theory that the Kansas City Chiefs’ success was rigged. Asked if he was “deviously plotting to rig the season so the Chiefs would make the Super Bowl” or if the Chiefs are just “being a good football team,” Mr. Biden responded, “I’d get in trouble if I told you.” A picture of “dark Brandon,” a satirical meme of Biden with laser beams shooting out of his eyes, then flashed on screen.
Mr. Biden’s “X” account leaned into the meme again, and trolled baseless conspiracy theories from fringe conservatives that pop star Taylor Swift’s relationship with Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce are part of a “pro-Biden” agenda.
“Just like we drew it up,” Biden posted with a “dark Brandon” image after the Kansas City Chiefs won Sunday’s Super Bowl.
By Monday morning, the Biden campaign’s TikTok account had over 4.6 million views on the app.
Biden campaign advisers say their entry into the platform is an attempt to “continue meeting voters where they are.”
“In a media ecosystem that is more fragmented and personalized than ever, it’s even more important to get our message across every channel and every platform possible,” campaign advisers said.
They add that the campaign itself will be running the TikTok account, and that there’s been no decision on whether the president or “any of the principals might also join in the future.”
The White House banned the use of TikTok on government-issued devices at the beginning of 2023, following measures taken by Congress to ban the app on federal government devices at the end of 2022.
In March 2023, the Biden administration was weighing a national ban of the app, unless TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divested from the social media platform. The Justice Department launched an investigation into ByteDance for possible spying on U.S. citizens, CBS News reported that same month.
Campaign advisers say the campaign is “taking advanced security precautions” around devices and is “incorporating a sophisticated security protocol.”
“The campaign’s presence is independent and apart from the ongoing CFIUS review,” advisers said, referencing a review of TikTok by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
But even prior to the reelection campaign’s account, Biden’s White House hadn’t completely shunned TikTok: influencers on the app were briefed by the White House on the war in Ukraine, Mr. Biden took part in an interview with TikTok creator Daniel Mac, and digital influencers were invited to an exclusive Christmas party at the White House in 2023.
The Democratic National Committee has had a more established presence on TikTok, with over 510,000 followers and 640 videos as of Monday morning, many of them centered around the president.
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Sen. Thom Tillis says “the scope” of Helene damage in North Carolina “is more like Katrina”
As recovery missions and repairs continue in North Carolina more than a week after Hurricane Helene carved a path of devastation through the western part of the state, the state’s Republican Sen. Thom Tillis called for more resources to bolster the relief effort and likened the damage to Hurricane Katrina’s mark on Louisiana in 2005.
“This is unlike anything that we’ve seen in this state,” Tillis told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday morning. “We need increased attention. We need to continue to increase the surge of federal resources.”
Hurricane Helene ripped through the Southeast U.S. after making landfall in Florida on Sept. 26 as a powerful Category 4 storm. Helene brought heavy rain and catastrophic flooding to communities across multiple states, including Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, with North Carolina bearing the brunt of the destruction. Officials previously said hundreds of roads in western North Carolina were washed out and inaccessible after the storm, hampering rescue operations, and several highways were blocked by mudslides.
Tillis said Sunday that most roads in the region likely remained closed due to flooding and debris. Water, electricity and other essential services still have not been fully restored.
“The scope of this storm is more like Katrina,” he said. “It may look like a flood to the outside observer, but again, this is a landmass roughly the size of the state of Massachusetts, with damage distributed throughout. We have to get maximum resources on the ground immediately to finish rescue operations.”
Hurricane Katrina left more than 1,000 people dead after it slammed into Louisiana’s Gulf Coast in August 2005, flooding neighborhoods and destroying infrastructure in and around New Orleans as well as in parts of the surrounding region. It was the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. in the last 50 years, and the costliest storm on record.
The death toll from Hurricane Helene is at least 229, CBS News has confirmed, with at least 116 of those deaths reported in North Carolina alone. Officials have said they expect the death toll to continue to rise as recovery efforts were ongoing, and a spokesperson for the police department in Asheville told CBS News Friday their officers were “actively working 75 cases of missing persons.”
On Saturday, the U.S. Department of Transportation released $100 million in emergency funds for North Carolina to rebuild the roads and bridges damaged by the hurricane.
“We are providing this initial round of funding so there’s no delay getting roads repaired and reopened, and re-establishing critical routes,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “The Biden-Harris administration will be with North Carolina every step of the way, and today’s emergency funding to help get transportation networks back up and running safely will be followed by additional federal resources.”
President Biden previously announced that the federal government would cover “100%” of costs for debris removal and emergency protective measures in North Carolina for six months.
With North Carolina leaders working with a number of relief agencies to deal with the aftermath of the storm, Tillis urged federal officials to ramp up the resources being funneled into the state’s hardest-hit areas. The senator also addressed a surge in conspiracy theories and misinformation about the Biden Administration’s disaster response, which have been fueled by Republican political figures like former President Donald Trump.
Trump falsely claimed that Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent in the November presidential election, were diverting funds from Federal Emergency Management Agency that would support the relief effort in North Carolina toward initiatives for immigrants. He also said baselessly that the administration and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, were withholding funds because many communities that were hit hardest are predominantly Republican. Elon Musk has shared false claims about FEMA, too.
“Many of these observations are not even from people on the ground,” Tillis said of those claims. “I believe that we have to stay focused on rescue operations, recovery operations, clearing operations, and we don’t need any of these distractions on the ground. It’s at the expense of the hard-working first responders and people that are just trying to recover their lives.”
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