Former President Donald Trump has recently changed his position on the popular social media app TikTok. While he was in the White House in 2020, Trump attempted to ban the app from the United States unless it sold itself to an American company. He cited concerns over Chinese ownership, claiming that it gave Beijing’s authoritarian government access to the personal information of American users. Trump believed that this data collection could potentially allow China to track the locations of federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.
In response, TikTok assured the public that it would never hand over that information. In fact, the company has invested $1.5 billion in Project Texas, a measure aimed at protecting the data of American users by confining it to servers in the United States. However, some Americans still worried that ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, would be compelled to hand over the data if ordered by Chinese authorities.
Surprisingly, Trump recently expressed his opposition to taking action against TikTok. In an interview with CNBC, he stated that he now opposes separating the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from TikTok or TikTok from American users. Trump acknowledged that there are many people, particularly younger users, who love the app and rely on it for entertainment.
So, what caused this change of heart? While it’s unclear if this is directly related, it is worth noting that Trump had a meeting with a billionaire conservative donor who is part-owner of the parent company of TikTok. Trump’s campaign has not officially commented on the relevance of this meeting, but it is plausible that it influenced Trump’s position.
Another factor that may have contributed to Trump’s shift is his aversion to Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Trump accused Facebook of being an enemy of the American people and criticized Zuckerberg’s donations during the 2020 election to organizations that support local election offices. He also made offensive remarks about Zuckerberg, drawing criticism from the media.
Trump’s flip-flopping on the issue of banning TikTok could stem from a variety of motives, including concerns over national security, appeals to TikTok’s users and most importantly, investors. Oh, and the personal grievances with Facebook. As the discussion around TikTok continues, it remains to be seen how the situation will unfold and what impact it will have on the future of the application. We will keep you in the loop, on Fan Reviews News.
