Former President Shifts Stance Amid Regulatory Pressures on Chinese-Owned App
As the potential for a US ban on TikTok looms, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump expressed support for the app, marking a shift from his previous position. In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek on July 16, Trump said, “I’m for TikTok because you need competition. If you don’t have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram.” This comes despite his earlier characterization of TikTok as a national security threat due to its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
Trump’s support for TikTok contrasts with his past efforts during his presidency to ban the app and Chinese-owned WeChat in 2020, a move blocked by the courts. However, President Biden’s administration has been working on a potential divestiture of TikTok’s US assets, with a law requiring ByteDance to sell the app’s US operations by January 2025. The law stems from national security concerns over the potential access China could have to American user data.
Trump’s change in stance is significant, especially considering his ownership of Truth Social, a competing social media platform. Despite Truth Social’s small market share, Trump Media and Technology Group, which runs the platform, holds a majority stake in it.
As the legal battle over TikTok continues, the case is set to go before a US appeals court in September, adding another layer of complexity to the final stretch of the 2024 presidential election.
