NEW YORK (AP) — During his first term as president, Donald Trump led the effort to ban TikTok, the hugely popular video-sharing site he said posed a threat to U.S. national security. But on the eve of his return to the White House, the president-elect is being hailed as the app’s savior.
After going dark for users this weekend, Trump said on his social media site that he would issue an executive order after he’s sworn in for a second term on Monday delaying a TikTok ban “so that we can make a deal to protect our national security.” He said the order would make clear that companies will not be held liable for violating a law that aimed to force TikTok’s sale by its China-based parent company. Hours later, the app returned, to the relief of its legions of dedicated users.
“Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!” read the announcement.
Trump’s legal authority to unilaterally decide not to enforce the law, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in April and was upheld by the Supreme Court on Friday, is unclear. But the rapid developments over the weekend served as a reminder of how dramatically debates over technology, social media and national security have changed since Trump was last in the White House. It also signaled how closely Trump is following those shifts after waging a successful campaign in which he made inroads with voters in part by harnessing the appeal of some social media platforms.
Trump can now take credit for reviving an app with 170 million users that is especially popular with younger Americans, many of whom spend hours a day on the platform to get news, make money and find entertainment.
Tech Companies Aligning with Trump
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago and reshaped his social media platforms’ policies to align more closely with Trump’s worldview earlier this month, ending third-party fact-checking, loosening rules against hate speech, ending his company’s diversity and equity policies and naming Dana White, the president and CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship and a familiar figure in Trump’s orbit, to its board.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Amazon, Meta and Google have all pledged to donate $1 million each to Trump’s inaugural fund.
Legal Challenges and TikTok's Fate
The federal law had required TikTok parent company ByteDance to cut ties with the platform’s U.S. operations by Sunday. The Biden administration had stressed in recent days that it did not intend to enforce the ban before Trump took office. But TikTok said it would nonetheless “go dark” because the Biden administration had not provided “necessary clarity and assurance” to service providers — a stance outgoing Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer cast as disingenuous.
Sen. Tom Cotton, the Republican chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, warned Sunday that there is no legal basis for the kind of extension Trump is pursuing.
Trump's Proposal for TikTok
Trump, in his Sunday post, proposed new terms of a deal in which he said the United States would have “a 50% ownership position in a joint venture” that would be “set up between the U.S. and whichever purchase we so choose.” But the details remained murky and it was unclear whether Trump was proposing control by the U.S. government or another company. Trump did not elaborate during a rally Sunday night, where he hailed the move.
