Pence’s Advocacy Group Launches Ad Campaign Pressuring Schumer on TikTok Bill

Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks about foreign policy at the Hudson Institute in Washington, on Sept. 18, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Advancing American Freedom (AAF), a political advocacy group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, has launched an ad campaign pressuring Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to bring the TikTok bill to a vote.

“TikTok is the Chinese Communist Party’s way to feed America’s youth their propaganda and collect data on all TikTok users,” Mr. Pence said in a statement.

“Last week, TikTok launched a $2 million ad campaign to stop the legislation that would disentangle the app from the CCP, but AAF is fighting back, launching an ad campaign to urge Congress to get the bill passed and signed into law,” he added. “We can’t cede our national security to the Chinese Communist Party. The time for the Senate to act is now.”

The TikTok bill called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, passed the House by a 352-65 vote on March 13. After the House vote, Mr. Schumer was noncommittal about bringing legislation against TikTok to a vote but said that the Senate would review the House-passed bill.

If enacted, the legislation would prohibit U.S. app stores from hosting TikTok unless Chinese parent company ByteDance divests the app. The aim is to free the app from the influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The 30-second ad starts with a 2020 clip of Mr. Schumer touting his opposition to TikTok and its links to the CCP. “TikTok is building a profile on every American user and has become a digital fentanyl,” the voiceover in the ad states next, while several headlines appear showing TikTok’s abilities for data collection.

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Next, the ad shows Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) speaking about the threats posed by TikTok.

“Republicans and Democrats in Washington agree on one thing: We need to stop China by stopping TikTok. Call Sen. Chuck Schumer and urge him to bring the TikTok bill to a vote,” the voiceover states.

Mr. Warner and Mr. Rubio have previously endorsed the House-passed TikTok bill. In a statement issued after the House vote, the pair said they “look forward to working together to get this bill passed through the Senate and signed into law.”

AAF’s $2 million ad campaign will run in Washington and several key Senate swing states, including Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, according to Politico.

Support for TikTok Bill

TikTok has been placing pop-up notifications urging its users to call their lawmakers and advocate against the legislation. Some congressmen have even received death threats from callers, including Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).

In an interview with Fox News aired late last month, Mr. Tillis said Mr. Schumer “is wasting a lot of time” by not taking up the TikTok bill.

“China has a connection to TikTok. Think about the 1,000s and 1,000s of calls to Washington; that is information that could be made available to the Chinese Communist Party because there is still a connection to a Chinese company and they have an obligation to cooperate with their government,” he said, before adding that China is not a democracy but a totalitarian regime.

“TikTok users need to understand we’re not talking about getting rid of TikTok. We’re talking about protecting this platform and protecting your information,” Mr. Tillis added.

A recent poll from Quinnipiac University, which surveyed 1,569 adults from March 21 to March 25, found that 51 percent of respondents supported the House-passed TikTok bill while 40 percent opposed it.

However, the majority of respondents aged between 18 and 34 years old were not in favor of the bill. According to the poll, 60 percent of this age group opposed the bill while 35 percent supported it.

When asked about the potential for a foreign government to have access to TikTok’s user information, 45 percent said they were very concerned and 29 percent said they were somewhat concerned, while 12 percent were not very concerned and 11 percent were not concerned at all.

Another poll, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and released by America, found that 68 percent of Americans supported the TikTok bill. The poll was conducted from March 15 to March 19 and surveyed 1,000 registered voters.

The poll also found that the TikTok bill enjoyed support across party lines. According to the poll, 73 percent of Republicans, 64 percent of Democrats, and 65 percent of Independents supported the TikTok bill.

84 percent of respondents knew that TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, and 73 percent were concerned that the app is owned by a Chinese company.

“Americans see China for the threat that it is, and they don’t want their social media apps controlled by a hostile foreign adversary,” said America 2100 Senior Advisor Nate Hochman in a statement accompanying the poll.

“Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats will have to choose between placating a loud, left-wing, TikTok-addicted activist base, and the American majority that wants the Chinese Communist Party out of our tech platforms and our country.”