In a change of opinion, Trump now disagrees with the ban on TikTok and labels Facebook as “an enemy of the people.”
the idea.
Although he initially took the lead in advocating for a ban on TikTok while serving as President, Donald Trump, now in a change of stance, is cautioning against the concept.banning
He stated that the app would only benefit Facebook, which he referred to as the “enemy of the people.”
During a Monday morning interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” President Trump expressed both positive and negative opinions about TikTok. He stated that while the app has its virtues, he dislikes the impact it has on social media giant Facebook, which he considers to be an enemy of the people, along with several media outlets. It should be noted that TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance.
“I have no intention of expanding the size of Facebook,” stated Trump. “I believe Facebook has greatly harmed our country.”
a TikTok shutdown
The notification directed users to a page where they could input their zip code, and then gave them a direct link to contact their member of Congress. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthy stated to CBS News that a majority of the alerts were received by children, resulting in an overwhelming amount of phone calls to our office.
Trump has held grudges against Meta, formerly known as Facebook, for a while now. Back in 2017, Trump used Twitter to express his belief that Facebook has been against him. After losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden, Trump was unhappy with the $400 million that the founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donated to non-profit organizations that supported local election offices nationwide during the pandemic. The donations were used to fund ballot drop boxes, equipment for processing mail-in ballots, the recruitment of poll workers, and voter education campaigns on safe voting during COVID-19. However, Trump and his supporters were against these initiatives.
Facebook and Instagram, owned by Meta, suspended Trump’s accounts for two years after he made false statements about the 2020 election being “stolen” from him. When his accounts were reinstated in February 2023, Trump and his campaign began using Meta’s platforms to raise funds.
wants to ban TikTok in 2020, claiming he has emergency powers to target ByteDance while he was still the president.
During his presidency in 2020, Trump announced his plan to prohibit TikTok, citing his use of “emergency powers” to target ByteDance. He asserted the desire to ban the app while still holding the presidency.
to October 2018
Issued an executive order in October of 2018.
Prohibiting American businesses from engaging in any dealings with ByteDance due to concerns that their collection of data could potentially give the Chinese government access to personal and confidential information belonging to American citizens. This could potentially lead to the tracking of federal employees and contractors, collecting personal information for blackmail purposes, and engaging in corporate espionage.
According to CNBC, Trump revealed that he recently had a meeting with GOP major contributor and ByteDance investor Jeff Yass, but clarified that their conversation did not include TikTok. Yass currently holds a 15% ownership in ByteDance.
According to Trump, he did not bring up TikTok at all.
Last week, President Biden informed reporters that he will approve the legislation if it is approved by Congress.
A representative from Meta declined to provide a statement.
Source: cbsnews.com