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Former US President Donald Trump supports TikTok remaining available in the country because he really doesn't like Facebook, arguing that if TikTok sees a nationwide ban, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg would come out on top.
Trump claims banning TikTok would "double" Facebook and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's business and calls Zuckerberg a derogatory name in a Truth Social post published last night during President Biden's State of the Union speech.
The former president doesn't want Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, to make gains as a result of a possible TikTok ban and called Facebook an "enemy of the people."
Trump has tangled with Zuckerberg and Facebook over the years. In 2017, he argued that Facebook "was always anti-Trump." Meta later banned Trump from its platforms in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the Capitol; they let him return to Facebook and Instagram in 2023.
Trump's position on TikTok is also an about-face from when he was in office. In August 2020, Trump issued an executive order that prohibited US “transactions” with TikTok (as well as WeChat), citing security concerns with TikTok parent company ByteDance. It called on ByteDance to sell off TikTok to a US company, which prompted discussions with Microsoft. Ultimately, Oracle took a stake in TikTok and pledged to handle US data.
Biden later rescinded Trump's executive order, and called for his own review into the risks of foreign-controlled mobile apps transferring data to US adversaries.
This week, US lawmakers proposed a bipartisan bill that would force TikTok to "break up" with China or face a national ban. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act would ban any apps owned by ByteDance and give the president power to add any other apps to a ban list if they're being operated or owned by a US adversary.
The US House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously passed the bill Thursday, moving it closer to a vote by the full House, which is expected next week.
Many Republicans have voiced their support for the bill, claiming TikTok is sharing US user data with China and allegedly spreading "dangerous propaganda." It's unclear whether Trump's views might change some Republicans' minds, however.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said this week that Biden's administration sees the bill as "important," "welcome," and a matter of "national security."
TikTok previously denied claims that it's shared US data with China. In response to the bill, it launched an in-app pop-up campaign urging US users to oppose the measure and call their lawmakers. Officials have reportedly been overwhelmed with calls from worried TikTok users, with many of them seemingly teenagers or children between 10 and 12 years old. Considering minors aren't eligible voters, though, it's unclear how the barrage of calls might impact lawmakers' decisions.
To get the US to reject the bill, TikTok says the bill is an "outright ban" that would "trample the First Amendment rights of 170 million Americans." A similar argument helped it win a temporary block on a Montana law that banned TikTok in the state.
The White House doesn't see the pending legislation as an outright ban. If TikTok severed its ByteDance ties within six months of it becoming law, it would be able to remain in the country.