Biden issued warning about keeping a 'dangerous' campaign TikTok account as list of politicians still using app despite possible ban is revealed

Top Republicans are demanding that Joe Biden's campaign cease its 'dangerous' use of TikTok after many lawmakers, top presidential advisors and security officials have warned of its national security threats.

Biden's re-election campaign joined TikTok in February and has posted countless videos about the president, often using social media trends and lingo to draw in support from younger voters who use the app. 

But last week Biden signed a law passed by Congress requiring ByteDance - TikTok's Chinese parent company - to sell the app within a year or face a ban in the U.S. over privacy concerns.

Still, the president's campaign does not want to stop using the social media. 

'We would be silly to write off any place where people are getting information about the president,' the Biden campaign's deputy manager Rob Flaherty has said of their use of the app. 

Now, Republicans are responding to the campaign, calling its decision to remain on TikTok concerning and hypocritical. 

A bill targeting TikTok's ownership was introduced in early March and later breezed through the House. Last week, the Senate passed a nearly identical version of the bill and President Joe Biden signed it into law. The TikTok bill forces ByteDance - the app's Chinese owner - to sell the app within a year or have it banned in the U.S.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, sent a letter to Joe Biden Monday urging him to suspend his campaign's use of TikTok, saying his decision to remain on the app is concerning and dangerous given its notable connections to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)

'The national security threats TikTok poses are grave,' Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, wrote in a letter sent to Biden first obtained by DailyMail.com. 'We should not need to remind you why your campaign’s use of TikTok is dangerous.' 

'Until TikTok is out of CCP hands, we call on you to suspend your TikTok account.'

'Leadership starts at the very top, and we hope you can set a good example to the many Americans using TikTok by suspending the use of this application until we know for sure that it is safe for use.'

The letter was so-signed by Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas. 

After a year researching concerns posed by TikTok, the bipartisan House China Select Committee introduced a bill in March to separate the app from the Chinese company ByteDance. 

The lawmakers claimed the app is being used to spy on Americans and that valuable data on TikTok's 170 million U.S. users is accessible to Chinese officials within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 

Further, the group revealed that ByteDance officials could manipulate the app's algorithm - thought to be one of the best in social media - to display content to Americans that could impact society and the upcoming November elections. 

'CCP spyware is living rent-free in the phones of millions of Americans,' Ernst wrote on X. 'It’s past time to end the national security risk of TikTok.'

And Biden administration officials have said the same thing: TikTok poses a major threat to the U.S.

'We are concerned, as every American ought to be concerned, about data security and what ByteDance and what the Chinese Communist Party can do with the information they can glean off of Americans' use of the application,' John Kirby, the White House national security communications advisor, said March 17. 

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also raised the question of whether 'we want the data from TikTok, children's data, and adults' data, to be staying here in America or going to China?'

That TikTok can and has been used to spy on American politicians and their families - like Biden's - was also was laid bare in Ernst's letter.

Joe Biden's campaign remains using the TikTok app despite the president signing a law last week that could ban the app in the U.S.

'TikTok has a proven track record of spying on U.S. citizens,' Ernst wrote to Biden. 'China-based ByteDance executives used TikTok to spy on American journalists reporting on the application's CCP ties.'

'ByteDance employees reportedly even had access to a search tool allowing them to access the friends list of U.S. politicians and their families—including members of your own family.'

Despite the long laundry list of concerns with the platform many lawmakers remain on the app that is effective at getting their message out to younger voters. 

Top Democrats Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, John Fetterman and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Kristen Gillibrand of New York, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Patty Murray of Washington and Jon Ossoff of Georgia all have verified TikTok accounts.

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont also has a verified account.  

Conversely, not a single Republican senator has a verified TikTok account.  

Out of all of the aforementioned senators with TikTok accounts, only Sanders and Merkley voted against the potential TikTok ban last week. 

Notable Democrats in the House like Reps. Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez, N.Y., Ilhan Omar, Minn., Rashida Tlaib, Mich., Cori Bush, Mo., Maxwell Frost, Fla., Adam Schiff, Calif., Barbara Lee, Calif., Bennie Thompson, Miss., and Ayana Pressley, Mass., also all have verified TikTok accounts. 

Thompson even has a profile despite his influential role as the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee.  

'TikTok is a national security threat, plain and simple,' Nehls told DailyMail.com in a statement. 

'Despite signing legislation into law acknowledging this fact, Joe Biden’s presidential campaign continues to use TikTok, blatantly ignoring the grave concerns his own administration’s officials have raised.'

'It’s obvious Joe Biden is putting politics over the safety of the American people by keeping his campaign TikTok account active.'

The White House and Joe Biden's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.