As members of Congress push for a ban At tick tockthe social media company is using former senior advisers to President Barack Obama and an ex-Disney executive to circumvent the ban The Wall Street Journal.

TikTok hired Disney’s former head of communications Zenia Mucha to help him navigate the political and legal minefield, the WSJ reported. The company also hired David Pluffewho led Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, and Jim Messinawho led the re-election of the then president in 2012. The three were hired as mentors for the TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in the days leading up to his appearance before Congress.

Plouffe previously worked at Uber to help the company lobby lawmakers and regulators. He also worked as a political advocate for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropic arm of Meta Platforms Inc., the publication reported.

Messina, on the other hand, used to head the Democratic Party’s largest outside fundraising group, Priorities USA Action.

See also: TikTok founder meets Walmart boss privately, fueling speculation over potential deal to avert ban

Two weeks ago, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was heavily scrutinized and grilled by the House Energy and Trade Committee.

“TikTok collects almost every data point imaginable, from people’s location to what they type and copy, who they talk to, biometrics and more,” said the US Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers said during the five-hour session during which Chew answered questions from members of Congress.

Chew defended the social media company against allegations that the app posed a national security threat to Americans.

US officials fear that TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, will share data collected from US users if the Chinese government requests such information.

Continue reading: Joe Biden is trying to ban TikTok… but the 4 most downloaded apps in the US are Chinese-owned

Photo: Shutterstock