President-elect Donald Trump is rethinking his opposition to TikTok with less than a month before it faces an outright ban in the U.S. Trump’s comments come after his electoral victory in November, which saw significant gains with young voters.
Media Landscape
See who else is reporting on this story and which side of the political spectrum they lean. To read other sources, click on the plus signs below. Learn more about this data
Left 38%
Center 50%
Right 13%
Bias Distribution Powered by Ground News™
“I’m going to have to start thinking about TikTok,” Trump said at a conservative conference in Phoenix over the weekend of Dec. 21. “I think we’re going to have to, we’re going to have to start thinking because we did go on TikTok. And we had a great response with billions of views, billions and billions of views. They brought me a chart, and it was a record, and it was so beautiful to see. And as they looked at it, I said, maybe we got to keep this sucker around a little while.”
Point phone camera here
The Senate passed a law in April that would force the short-form video app’s parent company, ByteDance, to divest TikTok due to national security concerns. ByteDance has made efforts to have that law overturned, and the Supreme Court will hear its challenge next month. But if it doesn’t get a favorable ruling, and they aren’t able to sell off the app, it will be banned in the U.S. as of Jan. 19.
Trump took on TikTok during his first tenure in the White House. He ordered ByteDance to sell TikTok in August 2020.
“With respect to TikTok, I want to put it in the broader context,” then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in July 2020. “We have been engaged in a constant evaluation about ensuring that we protect the privacy of American citizens and their information as it transits, so this doesn’t relate to any one particular business or company but rather to American national security.”
“We are now evaluating each instance where we believe that U.S. citizens’ data that they have on their phones or in their system or in their health care records — we want to make sure that the Chinese Communist Party doesn’t have a way to easily access that,” he added.
Since Trump was elected in November, he met with TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Dec. 16. Following that meeting, the President-elect said the app holds a “warm spot” in his heart.
If TikTok doesn’t win its legal challenge, there is still a $20 billion bid sitting on the table from a group led by former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt.
Get up to speed on the stories leading the day every weekday morning. Sign up for the newsletter today!
By entering your email, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and acknowledge the Privacy Policy.
But recently, TikTok has had to deal with government intervention outside of the United States.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama announced Saturday, Dec. 21, the government will officially shut down the app in the country for the entirety of 2025. The move comes after the stabbing death of a teenager, which was the culmination of a social media feud at the end of a school day.
“The problem today is not our children, the problem today is us, the problem today is our society, the problem today is TikTok and all the others that are taking our children hostage,” Rama said of Albania’s TikTok ban.
Tags: ByteDance, Donald Trump, National Security, People’s Republic of China, Social Media, Supreme Court, TikTok
[President-elect Donald Trump]
We won by 36 points with young people. That never happens. A Republican loses by 36 or 40. So I’m going to have to start thinking about Tiktok.
[Karah Rucker]
Less than a month before Tiktok could face an outright ban in the U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is changing his tune on the immensely popular app.
The Senate passed a law in April that would force the short-form video app’s parent company Bytedance to divest TikTok on the grounds of national security.
Bytedance has worked to get the law overturned and the Supreme Court will hear its challenge. But If it doesn’t get a favorable ruling, and they don’t sell off Tiktok, it will be banned in the U.S. on January 19th.
Trump’s comments at AmericaFest 2024 in Phoenix over the weekend are particularly impactful after his first administration initially raised concerns about TikTok.
[Donald Trump]
We’re looking at TikTok. We may be banning TikTok. We may be doing some other things or a couple of options.
[Karah Rucker]
Trump ordered Bytedance to sell Tiktok in August of 2020. As the U.S. was weighing its options, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid out the administration’s concerns.
[Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo]
“With respect to TikTok, I want to put it in the broader context. We have been engaged in a constant evaluation about ensuring that we protect the privacy of American citizens and their information as it transits, so this doesn’t relate to any one particular business or company but rather to American national security.
“We are now evaluating each instance where we believe that U.S. citizens’ data that they have on their phones or in their system or in their health care records — we want to make sure that the Chinese Communist Party doesn’t have a way to easily access that.
[Karah Rucker]
So… What has changed. The President-elect met with TikTok CEO Shou Chew at his Mar-a-Lago resort last week. And echoed his new found feelings for the app.
[Donald Trump]
“We’ll take a look at TikTok. You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points. And there are those that say that TikTok has something to do with it.
[Karah Rucker]
Republicans are always 30 points down on youth. I don’t know why, but we ended up finishing. We were…there was one poll that showed us down about 30. We were 35 or 36 points up with young people. So I have a little bit of a warm spot in my heart, I’ll be honest.”
If the courts don’t overturn the law forcing the company to sell. They still have a $20 billion bid sitting on the table led by former LA Dodgers owner Frank McCourt.
While TikTok wants to stay in the lucrative U.S. market, it is fighting battles across the globe.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama announced Saturday the government will officially shut down the app in the country for the entirety of 2025. The move comes after the stabbing death of a teenager. The altercation was the culmination of a social media feud at the end of a school day.
Rama said of the ban… ‘The problem today is not our children, the problem today is us, the problem today is our society, the problem today is TokTok and all the others that are taking our children hostage.’
Media Landscape
See who else is reporting on this story and which side of the political spectrum they lean. To read other sources, click on the plus signs below. Learn more about this data
Left 38%
Center 50%
Right 13%
Bias Distribution
33 other sources covering this story
Total News Sources
33
Leaning Left
3
Center
4
Leaning Right
1
Last Updated
1 day ago
Bias Distribution Powered by Ground News™
Straight to your inbox.
By entering your email, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and acknowledge the Privacy Policy.
