Politico, The Hill allow TikTok to sponsor daily newsletters despite bipartisan call to ban app

As members of Congress across the political spectrum call to ban TikTok over national security concerns, The Hill and Politico are still allowing the Chinese-owned social media platform to sponsor their newsletters.

The top of The Hill's Tipsheet, which is a newsletter of the outlet's top stories, featured an ad this weekend from TikTok reading: "data security and privacy. your concern. our commitment." The entire newsletter on Saturday was presented by TikTok, which is owned by the Beijing-based company ByteDance.

The Hill's newsletter displayed multiple ads from the platform, including two that stated: "TikTok is building systems to address concerns around data security, overseen by American teams specifically tasked with managing all access to U.S. user data and securing the TikTok platform."

TikTok appears to be taking aim at concerns about how it handles users' personal data. While the platform claims the Chinese Communist Party cannot access user data, Chinese law forces ByteDance to cooperate with Beijing's intelligence activities.

The Hill also published a pro-TikTok opinion piece on Sunday headlined "Congressman Jamaal Bowman is right to defend TikTok."

Bowman (D-N.Y.) and other progressive Democrats have supported TikTok.

Politico's Playbook, which is a roundup of headlines emailed to subscribers, was "presented by TikTok" as recently as Friday. The Playbook featured a message from TikTok stating that the platform is building systems tailor-made to address concerns around data security that will be "managed by a U.S.-based team specifically tasked with managing all access to U.S. user data."

Politico has also published several pro-TikTok opinion pieces, including one from October headlined "What Critics of the Hottest Social Media App Don't Get" and another from Sunday headlined "The Extraordinarily Misguided Attack on TikTok." It is unclear whether the outlet has published opinion pieces critical of TikTok.

The ads in both Politico and The Hill direct users to a TikTok website dedicated to assuring U.S. users that their data is safe.

However, the website does not explicitly state that the Chinese government does not have access to U.S. users' information. It instead states that China-based employees "are restricted from access to U.S. user databases" and that the company's goal is "minimizing employee access to U.S. user data and minimizing data transfers across regions — including to China."

TikTok first intensified its public relations campaign days before its CEO testified before Congress at the end of last month. The platform bought ads in the Washington, D.C., metro system, The New York Times and The Washington Post. It also sponsored Axios' Login, or tech-focused newsletter, Bloomberg Law reported. 

TikTok's media push may be supplementing its lobbying efforts. Last year, ByteDance spent more than $5.3 million in federal lobbying activities, according to OpenSecrets.org.

The lobbying may not have been as effective as TikTok had hoped. Most states have banned the app from state-owned devices, and the platform is banned from most federal devices. Democrats and Republicans have pledged to move forward with legislation to ban TikTok nationwide.

Representatives from The Hill and Politico did not respond to requests for comment before publication.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) is sponsoring legislation that would empower the Commerce Department to ban TikTok. He explained recently on CBS News' "Face the Nation" why his legislation enjoys bipartisan support.

"At the end of the day, TikTok is owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance," Warner said. "And by Chinese law, that company has to be willing to turn over data to the Communist Party. Or one of my bigger fears, we got 150 million Americans on TikTok average of about 90 minutes a day, and how that channel could be used for propaganda purposes."