Trump campaign encourages voters to sign petition banning TikTok

President Donald Trump’s campaign is presenting new ads on Facebook promoting a petition to ban Beijing-based TikTok, following the administration’s increasing rhetoric to ban the Chinese video app in the U.S.

“TikTok has been caught red handed by monitoring what is on your phone’s Clipboard,” read all the ads that are running on Facebook and Instagram. Viewers are encouraged to “sign the petition now to ban TikTok,” Bloomberg reported.

Users who wish to fill out the survey are requested to input personal information, including their email address and mobile phone number.

Trump’s presidential campaign is paying for ads on Facebook urging supporters to sign a petition banning TikTok https://t.co/WGzmzgxE1X pic.twitter.com/GTO5uS998L

— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) July 18, 2020

The Trump campaign’s negative rhetoric surrounding the social media app follows Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s comments earlier this month, suggesting the U.S. is “certainly” exploring a ban on TikTok.

The primary concern behind banning the social media app popular among millennials and Gen Z is the app’s loose security protocols, which reportedly share user data with Beijing’s government.

The ads were paid for by the Trump Make America Great Again Committee and targeted users in the age range of 18 to 64, with the most significant percentage of viewers coming from election battleground states such as Texas and Florida, Bloomberg noted.

The Trump campaign’s attack ad against TikTok also falls around the same time Facebook prepares to launch its competitor to the Chinese app, Instagram Reels, according to NBC.

The global launch for Instagram Reels has been over a year in development and seeks to let users compose 15-second video clips that can be set to a wide array of music and other soundbites.