Rubio Slams Democrat Opponent on TikTok Use: She Should Know Better

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., says Democratic opponent Rep. Val Demings "should know better" and get off TikTok.

Rubio, in a 45-second web ad titled, "Marco Rubio fights back against Communist China. Val Demings makes TikToks," noted "major security concerns" about TikTok, which is owned by China, contrasted with Demings' posts on the social media site.

"Val Demings should know better. Every time Demings shares a TikTok, she encourages Americans to use a platform that leaves their personal information more vulnerable to China," Rubio spokeswoman Elizabeth Gregory said. "Meanwhile, Marco Rubio has been calling for action and highlighting the serious threat to personal privacy and U.S. national security TikTok poses."

Demings, who is running against Rubio for his senate seat in the upcoming midterm elections, has spent nearly $6 million in ad buys. She’s posted massive fundraising hauls, raking in more than $12.2 million between April and June, and her campaign attributes much of that success to her "digital fundraising army," which includes TikTok.

"We are on TikTok for one simple reason: That’s where the voters are," said Christian Slater, a Demings spokesman. "The Demings campaign is working relentlessly to meet voters wherever they are, in person or online, in our fight to defeat career politician Marco Rubio."

Rubio in early July called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate TikTok and Chinese parent ByteDance due to "repeated misrepresentations" over its handling of U.S. data.