TikTok Stars Rally in Washington Against App’s Potential U.S. Ban

TikTok launched a battalion of influencers in the nation’s capital Wednesday to send a message to Congress: Banning the app would be met with widespread popular opposition.

“TikTok is not a children’s dancing app,” said Aidan Kohn-Murphy, a college freshman with close to 300,000 TikTok followers and founder of the advocacy group Gen-Z for Change. “It is one of the most powerful tools that young people have to engage each other and to get civically involved.”

Mr. Kohn-Murphy was one of more than 20 TikTok personalities with wide followings who traveled to the capital this week at the company’s invitation to lobby lawmakers and others in advance of TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew’s appearance before a House committee on Thursday.

The influencers’ blitz is part of TikTok’s response to persistent concerns among U.S. officials.

The Biden administration recently demanded that TikTok’s Chinese owners sell their stakes in the company or face a possible U.S. ban of the app, and members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee are expected to question Mr. Chew about the security concerns and other issues.

TikTok maintains that it isn’t beholden to any government and is a vital platform for 150 million American users—a theme the influencers worked to underscore in a meeting with journalists near the Capitol on Wednesday.

“It would be difficult to be able to support a candidate that would take away something that is so integral to the direction we’re going as a society,” said Baedri Nichole, a bakery owner from Columbus, Ohio, whose “hot cocoa bomb” confection is a hit on TikTok.

Kenny Jary, an 81-year-old retiree known on TikTok as Patriotic Kenny, said he uses the app to raise money to buy mobility scooters for fellow veterans. Others said the app provided a platform to launch small businesses or discuss topics such as eldercare and mental health.

TikTok covered the group’s travel and accommodation expenses. The company bused the influencers on Wednesday to the Capitol grounds, where they gathered on a scenic rooftop to shoot their own videos and stand for journalists’ interviews.

Later in the day, the influencers met with lawmakers and held a news conference near the Capitol building with Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D., N.Y.) and others.

“Why the hysteria and the panic and the targeting of TikTok?” asked Mr. Bowman, before suggesting xenophobia against China was at play and Congress should focus instead on addressing broader concerns about social media. “American social-media companies have been used to facilitate harms.”

After threats of banning the app started during the Trump administration, the company has spent recent years building a U.S.-based security apparatus to wall off U.S. user data and give officials the ability to inspect the computer code that recommends videos to users.

TikTok stars were a crucial factor in the company’s successful effort to fight off a proposed ban during the Trump years. Whether they will have the same influence this time around remains to be seen.

“I’m aware of the popularity of the platform. I’m not oblivious,” said Rep. Yvette Clarke (D., N.Y.), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee who hasn’t yet taken a position on a potential ban. “However, it’s important to weigh our equities here. National security has to be addressed.”

Ahead of Mr. Chew’s appearance, TikTok has ramped up lobbying efforts with the help of Oracle Corp., its U.S. data-security partner. Advertisements at the capital’s Metro subway stops tout the company’s commitment to user safety.

Mr. Chew also asked the platform’s users to weigh in, in a TikTok post this week disclosing that 150 million Americans are on the app.

“Some politicians have started talking about banning TikTok,” he said. “This could take TikTok away from all 150 million of you.”

生词记录

battalion 有组织的队伍

influencer 有影响力的人（网红，博主）

freshman 大一新生

advocacy 拥护，主张，提倡

Gen-Z Z世代（指90后）

civically 公民地

blitz 集中力量的行动，闪电式行动

persistent 持续的，存留的，顽强存在的；坚持不懈的，执意的

stake 股份

beholden 受惠的，感激的，欠人情的，受制的

underscore 强调

integral 构成整体所必须的

confection 甜点，甜食

hit 成功，受欢迎的人或事物

mobility 机动，移动

scooter 小型摩托车

veteran 老手，经验丰富的人；老兵，退伍军人

bus 用大客车运送

scenic 风景优美的

rooftop 天台，屋顶

hysteria 歇斯底里，大惊小怪

xenophobia 排外情绪，仇外，对外国人的憎恶

facilitate 助长，促进，促使

apparatus （尤指政治）机构，组织，机制

oblivious 无视，漠视，毫不在意的

ramp up 扩大，增加（业务）；加快（速度），增加（威力）

tout 吹嘘，吹捧

weigh in （在辩论，讨论中）发表有分量的意见，发挥作用

disclose 透露，泄漏，公开，揭露