Jen Psaki, the former White House press secretary for the administration of President Joe Biden, just admitted that, when it comes to TikTok, the Democrats have a bit of a double standard.
Psaki, who has left the White House press briefing room for MSNBC, made the admission during a recent appearance on MSNBC's Meet the Press.
There, Psaki participated in a "roundtable" to speak about TikTok in anticipation of the congressional testimony of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, which is set to take place this week.
It is there that Psaki made the admission.
Psaki began by trying to demonstrate how TikTok could be beneficial for a Democratic politician.
She said:
It is so hard to reach young voters. This is always a challenge for every Democratic candidate no matter how hip they are. And so, TikTok is a platform where it doesn't require Joe Biden or Kamala Harris to do TikTok dances. They could go on there and do policy, have conversations with creators, and reach that audience they're trying to reach.
Here, Chuck Todd jumped in to ask, "Could you both use TikTok and criticize it as an influence operation at the same time?"
"Apparently," Psaki replied.
Then, realizing that she just admitted to yet another double standard that the Democrats are upholding, Psaki attempted to further justify the situation. She said:
Well, think about this. Democrats, including Joe Biden, do that with Facebook. They do that with Twitter. You can't take yourself off the field of these things. So, they are doing that while criticizing, I guess.
Psaki, of course, overlooks the fact that - in contrast to Facebook and Twitter - TikTok is owned by China. This, after all, is what is so problematic with the app.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle, and the White House for that matter, have been looking to take action against TikTok due to concerns that the communist government of China is using the app to spy on and influence Americans. Some argue that there is evidence that China has already been doing both.
On Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to testify that TikTok has 150 million active users in the United States alone. This is particularly concerning because, if true, it shows that, rather than moving away from TikTok, Americans appear to be moving toward it - despite the concerns that have been raised about it.
There have already been bans placed on TikTok within the government. The question remains as to whether lawmakers would be willing to extend that ban to the general U.S. population.
But, as things now stand, Psaki apparently doesn't see any problem with Democrats referring to TikTok as a national security threat while continuing to use it for their own political purposes.
