In the face of increased scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators, TikTok, owned by Beijing-based tech giant ByteDance, has hired Biden-connected consulting firm SKDK.
SKDK is a public affairs and political consulting firm that is considered the most well-connected left-leaning firm in DC.
Several top former employees at the firm now hold mid to top level positions in the Biden administration.
One of its co-founders, Anita Dunn, has been working as a senior adviser to the White House since last May, Politico reported.
She was also part of Biden’s 2020 campaign. Other former SKDK employees in the Biden administration include Interior Department press secretary Tyler Cherry, deputy White House communications directors Herbie Ziskend and Kate Berner, and deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh.
Scrutiny into TikTok’s ties to Beijing has been ongoing for a few years and a bipartisan effort to ban the app from government devices was successful.
Lawmakers are worried about TikTok because its parent company is based in Beijing, where the government could pressure it to hand over the data of American users under the guise of national security. US social media platforms are also banned in China.
