The video sharing app TikTok has hired the Biden-connected firm SKDK to help them navigate the politics of Washington, DC, now that they’re coming under increased scrutiny.
State governments and colleges nationwide are banning TikTok from official devices, as the app is owned by the Chinese Communist party and is widely seen as spyware.
Politico reports:
TikTok hires Biden-connected firm as it finds itself under D.C.’s microscopeTikTok, the wildly popular Chinese-owned social media app, has hired top Biden-connected consulting firm SKDK as it faces increasing scrutiny in Washington, according to two people, including one with direct knowledge of the hire.The public affairs and political consulting firm is providing communications support to the company, which has come under government scrutiny, with senators recently introducing a bipartisan bill empowering Biden to restrict or potentially ban the service.The hiring came in the last few months, according to the person with direct knowledge of the hire. A spokesperson for SKDK declined to comment while a spokesperson for TikTok who also declined to comment.The fire TikTok has faced in D.C. has been building for a number of years after the Trump administration tried to ban the app. It has continued with the Biden administration’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. conducting a national security review of TikTok.SKDK is seen as the most well-connected Democratic firm in Washington with former top employees in senior and mid-level roles in the Biden administration. Anita Dunn, a founding partner, returned to the White House last May where she is senior adviser after a stint in the early part of the Biden administration and work on the 2020 campaign. Other former SKDK employees in the Biden administration include deputy White House communications directors Kate Berner and Herbie Ziskend, deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh and Interior Department press secretary Tyler Cherry.
This is kind of shocking.
More from National Review:
The decision to bring on SKDK comes amid a string of stinging losses for TikTok — in Washington and around the world. In December, Congress approved legislation to ban the app from federal government devices, and a number of other governments, such as Taiwan and the European Union, implemented similar bans .While the Politico report characterized SKDK’s work for TikTok as primarily focused on communications, it could be forced to register under domestic or foreign lobbying laws as more information comes to light.Currently, all of TikTok’s lobbyists, both in-house and otherwise, use a legal loophole to register under the domestic law, rather than as foreign agents, despite the fact that ByteDance hosts an internal Chinese Communist Party committee that studies “Xi Jinping thought.”
The lack of curiosity by the media and the left in general on this topic is rather telling.
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