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TikTok has launched a $2.1 million ad campaign with a clear message to senators facing tough re-election battles this year: Block the House bill that effectively bans the app in the United States could prohibit.
“Think of the 5 million small business owners who rely on TikTok to support their families,” an alleged TikTok user says in the ad. “It would be so sad to see all of this disappear,” said another apparent user.
The company has reserved television advertising space in the battleground states of Nevada, Montana, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio, according to previously unreported data from AdImpact.
All five states are represented by vulnerable Senate Democrats, each running for 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 important advertising markets for reaching young people and journalists. Minnesota is the home state of Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, one of TikTok’s harshest critics in Congress. Klobuchar is also up for re-election this year.
The ads began running on Wednesday, with the purchase deadline ending on either April 14 or April 28, depending on where the spots air, according to the data.
One of the new ads obtained by CNBC purports to show TikTok users warning their audiences about how much would be lost if TikTok were banned.
“It will affect many people’s livelihoods,” says a sad-looking woman.
Senate route
Despite TikTok’s exaggerations, the bill passed by the House of Representatives was not an outright ban. Instead, TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, must divest its holdings in the app within about six months of the bill taking effect.
If ByteDance fails to do this, TikTok would not be available for download on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, almost leading to a slow death for the app among US users.
But even though the TikTok bill passed by a vote of 352-65 in the House of Representatives, it still faces an uncertain path as it passes through the Senate.
Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from 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 needed time to “review the legislation” before he could share timelines for possible passage.
President Joe Biden has said he would sign the bill if it passes the Senate. Secret Service officials recently gave senators a classified briefing on TikTok.
Following the briefing, Commerce Committee Chairwoman 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 on the free speech rights of 170 million Americans and destroy 7 million small businesses across the country,” a TikTok spokesperson said.
The company said the purchase will be larger than AdImpact’s original $2.1 million and that much of the investment will focus on national and local television advertising.
The ads represent TikTok’s latest attempt to quell the Washington debate 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 urging members to vote against the ban. The number of these calls skyrocketed after TikTok encouraged its users through the app to urge lawmakers not to pass the House bill.
Senator Thom Tillis, R-N.C. shared a threatening voicemail in his office related to a possible TikTok ban. Tillis’ office said it has received at least 1,000 calls about the app since the House passed the bill.
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2024-03-27 23:21:17
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