President-elect Donald Trump might kill a ban on TikTok if its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, doesn’t sell the popular app, which is a sharp policy reversal from his first term.
Unless TikTok can convince ByteDance to sell and find a buyer, it will be banned in U.S. app stores in January. Hours after TikTok petitioned the Supreme Court to halt the ban, Trump indicated he might make moves to save its future when he is sworn into office next month.
“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,” Trump said Monday.
Trump did not win the youth vote by 34 points, as he said. He lost the youth vote to Vice President Kamala Harris by 11 points nationwide.
During Trump’s first administration, he supported a ban on the app and sought to clamp down on TikTok via executive action. Four years later, he seems open to keeping the app around.
In March, Trump noted he had security concerns about the app. However, he also recognized the app poses a direct threat to Meta and banning TikTok would be beneficial for the competitor Trump has been critical of.
“Without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people,” Trump told CNBC.
Trump’s campaign joined TikTok in June, gaining millions of followers on the platform over the course of the electoral contest.
This week, Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Chew ahead of its looming ban. Chew has been trying to meet with Trump since he was elected, according to CNN.
TikTok has petitioned for its case to remain on the market in the United States, but its appeals have largely been denied. The company filed an emergency application Monday imploring the Supreme Court to block its ban temporarily. TikTok argued that the possible ban violates its First Amendment right to free speech.
“Congress’s unprecedented attempt to single out applicants and bar them from operating one of the most significant speech platforms in this nation presents grave constitutional problems that this court likely will not allow to stand,” the social media platform’s lawyers wrote.
Earlier this year, Congress passed the ban with bipartisan support. President Joe Biden signed it into law in April, after years of some lawmakers questioning if ByteDance is a national security concern due to its ties to the Chinese Communist Party. ByteDance has repeatedly indicated that it is unwilling to sell the app.
It is unclear exactly how Trump could step in and halt the ban before it takes place. The ban is set to take place on Jan. 19, the day before he becomes president.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
He could petition Congress to repeal the law, which passed overwhelmingly in both chambers. However, two of Trump’s Cabinet picks, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), were vocal advocates of banning TikTok due to its perceived security concerns and voted in favor of its ban.
As president, Trump could also choose not to enforce the ban. In theory, the Justice Department under Trump could opt against enforcement of the law and assure companies such as Apple that they would not face prosecution for keeping the app available in their online stores.
