As TikTok stares down an impending federal ban, Donald Trump’s win within the presidential election might be a lifeline.
It’s a plot twist for the embattled, Chinese-owned social media firm. During Trump’s final presidency, the president-elect had been the one to provoke the calls to ban TikTok, which solely petered out as a result of he didn’t win his first try at re-election in 2020. But throughout his 2024 marketing campaign, Trump took a unique method. He wrote in all-caps on his platform Truth Social, “For all of those that want to save Tik Tok in America, vote Trump!”
President Biden signed off on a invoice in April that provides ByteDance, the Chinese mother or father firm to TikTok, 9 months to promote the platform. If ByteDance fails to finish a sale — which is a possible consequence — it is going to be banned on January 19, 2025, the day earlier than Trump’s inauguration. However, ByteDance has the choice of pursuing a 90-day extension, which might put the ball in Trump’s courtroom.
Trump’s reasoning for his assist of a TikTok ban in 2020 echoes the present bipartisan sentiment amongst legislators who pushed for this laws. At the time, Trump raised considerations concerning the Chinese Communist Party probably getting access to Americans’ information (whereas there has not been public proof of the CCP accessing American TikTok customers’ information, there was proof that ByteDance accessed TikTok consumer information). Now, the president-elect seems extra involved with how a TikTok ban would profit Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta.
“Without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people,” Trump instructed CNBC in March.
He made comparable feedback on Truth Social, claiming that he doesn’t desire a TikTok ban to end in Meta’s enterprise development, as a result of he believes Facebook is “a true enemy of the people.”
Another motive for Trump’s modified view on TikTok might be his relationship with Jeff Yass, a billionaire GOP donor and co-founder of the buying and selling agency Susquehanna International Group. Yass and his spouse, Janine, donated over $96 million to right-leaning PACs throughout this election cycle — and Yass additionally occurs to personal 7% of ByteDance.
Though Trump’s win may also be a victory for TikTok, politicians’ marketing campaign guarantees don’t all the time come to fruition.
