WASHINGTON ― Former President Donald Trump raised concerns over efforts to ban the social media app TikTok this week, appearing to walk back the position he held in 2020, when he threatened to ban the app himself.
“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee wrote on his social media platform on Thursday, referring to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Trump said he didn’t want Facebook to “d[o] better,” calling the company “a true Enemy of the People.”
The Republican-controlled House is set to vote on a bill next week that would ban the video platform, now used by over 100 million Americans, if its Chinese parent company ByteDance fails to divest its ownership within six months or so.
The legislation was approved by a rare 50-0 vote in the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week, despite a last-minute lobbying effort by TikTok that urged users to call lawmakers’ offices in protest.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle worry TikTok poses a threat to U.S. national security because of its ties to Beijing. They also have concerns with its data privacy given its popularity with young users, many of whom are minors.
“If you value your personal freedom and privacy online, if you care about America’s national security at home, and, yes, even if you want TikTok to stick around in the United States — this bill offers the only real step towards each of these goals,” Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), the chair of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and one of the authors of the legislation, said this week.
It’s not clear why Trump appeared to reconsider his position on banning TikTok. Some commentators noted he recently hosted GOP megadonor Jeff Yass, who is a billionaire investor in ByteDance, at his Mar-a-Lago club and sought his support in the presidential race.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), an outspoken China critic and supporter of Trump, said he disagreed…
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