As midterms loom, TikTok faces its next political test
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TikTok has long sought to avoid politics. The 2022 midterms are making that impossible.
Three years ago, TikTok imposed strict rules prohibiting campaign advertising as the video-sharing app tried to avoid the scandals over political content that have long dogged its social media rivals.
But with Election Day fast approaching, TikTok can’t manage to stay on the sidelines.
As Washington wavers on TikTok, Beijing exerts control
Nearly 30 percent of all major-party candidates in Senate races have TikTok accounts, and one-fifth of all major-party House candidates have an account on the platform, according to a new analysis from the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a U.S.-based nonprofit group that examines efforts by foreign nations to interfere in democratic institutions.
Democrats have been more likely to embrace the app, with 34 percent of candidates in Senate, House, governor and secretary of state races having TikTok accounts, according to the report. But 12 percent of Republican candidates in the same races also have TikTok accounts, the report says.
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