TikTok and ByteDance spent over $13 million on a struggling lobbying campaign

It appears that TikTok and its parent company have spent more than $13 million on lobbying federal government officials since 2019 - but that hasn't worked as lawmakers have pushed proposals aimed at changing the app's ownership to a Chinese corporation or even calling for TikTok to be banned in the United States outright.

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There was a call from Michael Beckerman, head of the social media company's U.S. public policy shop, in February, shortly after Republican Representative Ken Buck and Senator Josh Hawley introduced legislation to ban TikTok downloads nationwide. Several weeks after that, Buck's staff was contacted by the social media company's head of public policy, Michael Beckerman.

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Despite the concerns of Buck's staff that TikTok was harvesting customer data, Beckerman refused to give in to this concern and pushed for a company initiative called Project Texas. TikTok has been working on Project Texas since the beginning, which aims to place the data on its U.S. customers into a secure hub that is managed by Oracle, to ease U.S. government concerns that the data may be accessed by members of China's ruling party or ByteDance.

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TikTok's lobbying comes as it has attempted to counter concerns raised by lawmakers who want to ban the app, which has 150 million monthly active users. As a result, Project Texas has attempted to show that it can address concerns about user information without outright banning it; however, most lawmakers at a contentious hearing about TikTok earlier this month appeared to be skeptical that its efforts would be sufficient.

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During the hearing, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew explained to lawmakers that it is likely that some U.S. data may be accessible to employees working at ByteDance based in China. Nevertheless, he assured them that once Project Texas is complete, none of those employees will be able to access that data anymore.

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So far, Chew's testimony and the sustained lobbying pressure that has been exerted on Capitol Hill have not been successful in stymieing the campaign on Capitol Hill to cut TikTok's ties to its owner in China or to limit access to the app.

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Even though Brooke Oberwetter was a spokesperson for TikTok, she did not deny any of the details contained in this story. The TikTok representative defended the work of the company's Washington team and said the company is doing its best to address lawmakers' privacy and safety concerns.

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"Our Washington team has always focused - and is still focusing - on educating lawmakers about our company and our service so that they can understand the value our services provide," Oberwetter explained. “Throughout the next few years, we will continue to work hard to educate Congressmen and the American public about Project Texas and its progress in addressing national security concerns, as well as continue to work with legislators, stakeholders, and our peers to develop solutions that address industry-wide privacy and safety concerns."

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One of the leading proposals targeting TikTok is the RESTRICT Act, introduced by a bipartisan group of senators led by Sen. Mark Warner, D-VA, and John Thune, R-S.D. This bill has not yet been enacted into law in the House but would allow the Commerce secretary to assess national security risks associated with certain technology transactions with firms or individuals in a select group of foreign adversaries, including China, which are not yet enacted into law. A recommendation may be made to the president by the secretary of commerce to take action up to a ban.

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Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, has introduced yet another proposal for government data collection called the DATA Act. It would revoke the protections usually afforded to creative content when it comes to U.S. sanctions. The bill would also require that the president impose sanctions on companies based in China that transfer sensitive personal data about Americans to individuals or businesses located in China. There was wide party-line support for the proposal which passed through the GOP-led House Foreign Relations Committee, despite Democratic fears that it was rushed through.

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One of the most extreme proposals to ban TikTok outright comes from Hawley and Buck, who are simply seeking to impose a blanket ban on the app, saying the president should block any transactions involving ByteDance.

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There has been no holdback by Buck since the phone call with Beckerman in calling the app a national security threat. An individual close to Buck said that he was still concerned about the company's policies concerning privacy, cybersecurity, and national security even after consulting with Beckerman.

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The Colorado lawmaker's ally said lobbying money is wasted on trying to change Buck's mind. According to a Republican strategist allied with Buck, it's like they're burning their money.

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TikTok's "last-minute blitz" to lobby Capitol Hill weeks before Chew's testimony was "amateur hours," according to a different GOP consultant who is acquainted with the company's lobbying activities, Trade Algo reported. The source claimed that congressional offices occasionally turned down corporate representatives' requests for meetings and that TikTok staff failed to contact influential members like Hawley, who have expressed interest in the app.

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Hawley's campaign to outlaw TikTok has not abated. On Wednesday, he attempted to secure the unanimous support of the Senate to forward his plan. Hawley's measure was defeated by Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who is now one of the few members from both parties who have rejected the attempt to limit access to the app. Many MPs haven't yet concluded that a ban is essential, but very few have outright rejected one.

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Individuals who chose not to be identified in this story did so to talk openly about personal interactions and gatherings. A query for comment was not answered by a Hawley representative.

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According to advisers and aides to congressional leaders, the contact with Buck's team is just one of many instances in which lobbyists for TikTok or its China-based parent company ByteDance have seen their campaigns on Capitol Hill go unnoticed. The latest indication that the firm would need more supporters in Congress to stop new limitations on the app or a potential ban is that some politicians have shown little interest in listening to TikTok executives.

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Warner met with TikTok lobbyists early this year, according to a participant at the event at the senator's office. Then, the Virginia lawmaker and Thune unveiled their proposal for a measure giving the Commerce secretary the authority to take action against TikTok. Since then, the White House has supported the legislation and urged Congress to approve it so that President Joe Biden can sign it.

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Requests for comment from Warner's office were not answered.

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In the days leading up to Chew's appearance before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, TikTok seemed to have intensified its lobbying. Before the event, the company flew TikTok influencers to Washington.

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A few Democratic members, including Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York, who held a news conference the day before the hearing to oppose a potential ban, were also allies of the company.

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Yet in private sessions, some of those same influencers reportedly told Bowman that rules must be put in place to safeguard their data across all social media platforms, including TikTok while maintaining the app's integrity.

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Regardless of whether they had an impact on politicians, creators' cries to keep TikTok available in the US seemed to hit a chord with many users who view the app as a source of amusement, knowledge, and even revenue. TikTok users uploaded videos of senators grilling the CEO with straightforward questions both during and after the hearing, mocking Congress for what they perceived to be a lack of understanding of technology.

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Yet, based on the five hours of tense questioning by representatives of both parties during the hearing, it appeared that the app's founders' arguments failed to allay lawmakers' grave concerns regarding the app's ties to China and the addictive and potentially destructive aspects of its design.

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TikTok's pre-hearing lobbying failed to influence any members, according to Alex Moore, the communications director for Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill. The addition of TikTok creators to the company's marketing campaign "hasn't persuaded my boss," Moore continued.

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Moore said that following the hearing, his office has received numerous calls from citizens. Calls regarding TikTok would "trickle in" before the hearing, he claimed. When the TikTok ban was eventually lifted, though, "our phones were ringing off the hook," with the bulk of calls opposing it.

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"That's not what our constituents are interested in, by far," he remarked.

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While Moore acknowledged that such calls frequently "start off hot," he added that once staffers emphasized that Schakowsky wants comprehensive privacy legislation so as to not "let other firms off the hook" for comparable data practices, constituents tended to cool down.

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After the hearing, Schakowsky told Trade Algo that there would probably be "more discussion" regarding how to address the issues specifically related to TikTok's Chinese ownership. Yet Schakowsky, a co-sponsor of the bipartisan privacy legislation that was approved by the committee during the last Congress, expressed her hope that the hearing would give privacy regulations for other significant digital corporations new life.

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Connected lobbying efforts

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Lobbying attempts by TikTok and ByteDance are closely related.

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The in-house lobbyists at ByteDance all represent TikTok, according to their quarterly lobbying reports. They consist of Freddy Barnes, who previously served in the office of former Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and Beckerman, a former policy director for former GOP Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan.

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TikTok has employed its team of outside lobbyists. Ankit Desai, a former staffer to Biden while he served in the U.S. Senate, and former Rep. Jeff Denham, a Republican from California, are among its newest hires. Senate.

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In total, ByteDance and TikTok have spent more than $13 million on federal lobbying since 2019, according to statistics and reports on lobbying disclosure that were examined by OpenSecrets.

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ByteDance has spent the most money on lobbying efforts for the social app. According to the nonpartisan OpenSecrets, the parent company of TikTok spent $5.3 million on federal lobbying in 2022, setting a new company record.

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Since 2020, TikTok has paid outside lobbying consultants a little over $900,000.

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Also, according to a document, ByteDance gave nearly $400,000 last year to nonprofit organizations connected to members of Congress for "honorary expenses."

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The document reveals that ByteDance gave a combined $300,000 to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, organizations connected to the House's predominately Democratic caucuses. Jesse Price, a TikTok public policy director, is listed as a member of the board of directors or advisory council for each of those organizations.

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The paper detailing the contributions made by ByteDance was signed by Beckerman, the most prominent TikTok lobbyist.

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Since 2020, TikTok and ByteDance have also lobbied the White House specifically for Biden's executive office, according to disclosure reports.

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When questioned about additional information regarding the lobbying effort, the White House stood quiet.