Most Black Voters Oppose Bill to Ban TikTok: Poll

A majority of Black voters in the United States oppose legislation that would ban the social media platform TikTok, a new poll finds.

The poll, conducted by ClearPath Strategies, found that 51% of Black voters oppose banning the platform and 55% view TikTok favorably. The research, which is not public, was provided to TikTok by ClearPath through an internal memo obtained by The Hill.

The poll also found that 24 percent of Black voters said they would be less likely to vote for an elected official who supported banning Tik Tok and 77 percent said they would prefer Congress to pass a law requiring all media companies social compliance. a set of regulations and standards relating to the protection of user data.

The memo to TikTok suggests that Black voters’ frustrations over the platform’s ban could impact the critical voting bloc’s support for President Biden in the November election, citing interviews this month with voters in swing states and those using voters.

Overall, the survey found that 38% of registered voters in the US use TikTok at least once a month, which includes 51% of black voters, 57% of Latino voters and 42% of voters who say they are liberal.

Additionally, 39 percent of voters who said they plan to vote for Biden in November regularly use TikTok, as do 68 percent of voters ages 18 to 29.

Biden said he would support the bipartisan Protecting Americans from Controlled Applications of Foreign Adversaries Act if Congress passes the legislation. The bill would require Chinese company ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a ban from U.S. app stores and web hosting services, prohibiting users from accessing the platform.

The bill passed the House in a broad bipartisan vote in March, and Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) announced her support for the bill last week, clearing the way for it in the upper chamber.

Voting was held April 8-10 and included 1,025 registered voters across the country. The margin of error was not provided in the memo.