Rick Scott grills Democratic Senate opponent for joining TikTok as ‘threat’ to American security

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott slammed a Democratic opponent for his Senate seat in 2024 after she joined the social media platform TikTok.

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, vying to unseat Scott next November, said she is “officially on TikTok” Monday.

“We’re Floridians, of course we’re going to hop on this trend,” she said.

“What do @DebbieforFL and TikTok have in common?” Scott said. “Both are a threat to our national security.”

Mucarsel-Powell is a former U.S. congresswoman.

While other candidates are running for the Senate seat in both parties, Scott’s campaign has been directing political attacks towards Mucarsel-Powell since she announced.

Scott’s national security comments reference TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, a Chinese tech company in Beijing.

Florida and national leaders have increasingly targeted TikTok for intense restrictions over its links to China and potential security risks for Americans.

Earlier this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law banning TikTok from government devices. The legislation was carried by Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, and Rep. Carolina Amesty, R-Windermere.

Also this year, the Florida Board of Governors decided that public universities must prohibit TikTok on university-owned devices and block connecting to it on university networks.

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio additionally reiterated his desire for the U.S. ban the platform this year over pro-Hamas content.

Last year, Rubio said TikTok’s data collection practices on Americans would allow the Chinese government any intel it demands from the company.

“They’re just scooping all that up and that the Chinese government asked for it to have to turn it over,” he said. “So they know a tremendous amount about Americans in general, about our society, about what messages work gives them a huge advantage. Not to mention the individual data, people that they can acquire.”

“They attacked me, they attacked Governor Abbott and Senator Cruz in Texas,” Rubio said. “They did a series of states, these Chinese-run media outlets, and with really small disclaimers on the bottom so you can’t even tell it’s being produced by them.”