A lobbying firm linked to both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden agreed to represent TikTok in August after some of the Chinese-owned social media platform’s other allies kicked it to the curb.
Ballard Partners, run by Trump world insider Brian Ballard, is deploying a bipartisan team consisting of Biden White House veteran Michael LaRosa and Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz’s former chief of staff Daniel McFaul to advocate for the Chinese-owned app, disclosures show. Before Ballard Partners agreed to influence policy on behalf of TikTok, Mehlman Consulting had declined to renew its lobbying contract with the platform in May with NetChoice, a right-of-center tech interest group, abruptly removing TikTok as one of its members that same month, according to Politico.
Both high-profile separations came after Politico reported in March that members of Congress critical of China were considering blacklisting lobbying firms that worked with TikTok. Congressional China hawks previously threatened to ban meetings with firms representing Pentagon-designated “Chinese military companies,” prompting several lobbying groups to drop such clients.
Lobbying disclosures indicate that Ballard Partners will be representing TikTok on telecommunications issues. The app’s previous lobbying campaign, a multi-million dollar effort that employed not only big names on K Street but also a legion of former lawmakers, saw the platform fail to defeat a bill that forces ByteDance, its Chinese parent company, to either sell TikTok or face a ban in the U.S.
Congressional advocates of the TikTok ban alleged that allowing an app owned by a Chinese corporation to access large amounts of American data poses a national security risk. ByteDance has allegedly used the app to monitor American journalists and to track communications of theories relating to China’s involvement in the origin of the COVID-19 virus.
The former employers of Ballard Partners’ lobbying team fell on different sides of the fight over Congress’ TikTok ban, with Biden signing it into law while Gaetz voted against the legislation, saying that it “was overly broad, rushed and unavailable for amendment or revision.” Gaetz, however, did agree with the broad idea of banning the app.
Trump has been a vocal opponent of the ban, arguing that it would empower American social media platforms, which he believes are biased against him.
TikTok and Ballard Partners did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
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