The reelection campaign for President Joe Biden defended its newly created TikTok account on Monday, stating that it is a crucial means of increasing its support among younger voters. However, concerns about the app potentially sharing user data with the Chinese government, as raised by the administration, still remain.

The first post of the campaign showcased the president answering questions about the upcoming Super Bowl on Sunday. It also mentioned the newest political conspiracy theory involving popular singer Taylor Swift.

According to a statement from Rob Flaherty, deputy campaign manager for Biden’s reelection, the president’s TikTok debut last night has garnered over 5 million views and serves as evidence of our dedication and effectiveness in utilizing unique methods to connect with voters in a constantly changing and individualized media landscape.

John Kirby, the national security communications adviser at the White House, stated that there are still concerns regarding the use of TikTok on government devices. He also mentioned that their policy prohibiting such use remains unchanged.

Kirby referred most questions about TikTok to the Biden campaign and ducked a more general query about whether it was wise to use the app at all. He said the potential security issues “have to do with concerns about the preservation of data and potential misuse of that data and privacy information by foreign actors.”

The FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have issued warnings about the potential for TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to share user information, including browsing history, location, and biometric data, with the authoritarian government of China. In 2022, President Biden signed a law that prohibits the use of TikTok on devices owned by federal agencies for nearly 4 million employees, with some exceptions for law enforcement, national security, and security research.

The app has been under review by the influential Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States for a significant amount of time. The committee has been attempting to pressure TikTok’s ownership to separate from its parent company, but without success. The White House stated on Monday that the review is ongoing.

With 150 million U.S. users, TikTok is best known for quick snippets of viral dance routines. But Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, posted on X that Biden’s campaign is “bragging about using a Chinese spy app even though Biden signed a law banning it on all federal devices.”

According to the Biden campaign, they had been considering creating a TikTok account for several months and ultimately decided to do so after being encouraged by youth activists and organizations. These supporters believed that the app was crucial in connecting with young voters.

The campaign stated that it was utilizing a different mobile device to interact on TikTok in order to keep the app separate from other work processes and communication methods, such as emails. The campaign also mentioned implementing extra measures, but did not disclose them due to security reasons.

Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, stated that she had not been in communication with the campaign and was not given any prior notice that their TikTok account would be going live.