Rep. Ilhan Omar
Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar uploaded her first official TikTok more than two years ago, which makes her one of the earliest adopters in Congress. Since then Omar has uploaded more than 40 videos and attracted a sizable 247,000 followers. Aside from the occasional dance video, many of Omar’s posts highlight her travelling to meet with communities and advocate in favor of legislation.
@ilhanmn So proud of @israhirsi and all 2021 graduates. I’m inspired by you every day #bestfriend #bestfriendscheck 🎶 by @aintafraid
Despite her prolific presence on the app, Omar had remained mostly silent on the ban issue until late last month. In a statement, Omar said the ban being proposed sounds a whole lot like censorship and doesn’t actually address legitimate data privacy concerns. Concerns about TikTok being used to spread propaganda or misinformation, Omar said, also apply to US social media companies.
“Aside from raising legitimate first amendment concerns, this is bad policy,” Omar said. “We should create actual standards and regulations around data harvesting and privacy violations across social media companies—like many countries around the world have already done—not ban particular platforms we don’t like.”
