How Donald Trump Went From Calling for a TikTok Ban to Backing Off

Four years ago, President Donald J. Trump denounced the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok as a threat to U.S. national security. This week, as Trump prepared to re-enter the White House, he called it a “unique medium for free speech.”

The comment is his brief to the supreme court On Friday, he asked a judge to halt a TikTok ban set to take effect next month so he can “negotiate a resolution” to save the platform.

A law signed by President Biden in April with broad bipartisan support requires TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the app to non-Chinese companies or face concerns that the app poses risks to national security and free speech. risks facing a ban in the United States. Judges are considering the company’s challenge to the law.

TikTok says the law violates the First Amendment. It also said its parent company is majority-owned by global investors.

The Biden administration and members of Congress argue that the platform’s Chinese ownership harms U.S. security because of the extensive user tracking and data collection it conducts, and that Beijing may use the app for propaganda.

This was Trump’s stance before he became a political star on TikTok, where he now has more than 14.7 million followers.

Democratic strategist Geoff Garin noted that Trump’s about-face puts him at odds with many Republicans who remain concerned about Chinese ownership of the app.

“It’s hard to believe that Trump’s volatility on TikTok is more than just the influence of billionaire donors and Trump’s reluctance to give up opportunities to reach fans on the platform,” Garin said of Jeff Yas. . a republican megadonor Owns a large stake in ByteDance. “As with almost everything Trump does, his change of stance was driven by self-interest, not principle or the national interest.”

Here’s how Trump has evolved on TikTok:

In 2020, he said: “We will ban them.”

Much of Trump’s initial hostility toward TikTok stemmed from his anger at China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

In July 2020, he told Bloomberg News in a television interview that his administration was considering a ban because “what’s happening with this virus in China, what they’re doing to this country and the world is disgraceful. “

Days later, he told reporters aboard Air Force One, “As far as TikTok is concerned, we ban them from entering the United States.”

On August 6, he actually did just that, posting executive order Directing ByteDance to divest its U.S. interests or face widespread sanctions.

It warned that TikTok’s massive data collection “could allow the Chinese Communist Party to obtain the personal and proprietary information of Americans — potentially allowing China to track the locations of federal employees and contractors, build profiles of personal information for blackmail, and conduct Corporate espionage.

“The risk is real,” the order said.

Next month, Mr. Trump Congratulations on the deal This involves two major American companies, Oracle and Walmart, which hold large shares in TikTok. But the deal, which was shelved during the transition to the new presidential administration, obscures the extent to which ByteDance and Chinese employees will continue to be involved in the app.

Trump’s efforts to ban TikTok were blocked by a federal judge, who ruled that Trump exceeded his authority. President Biden later reversed Trump’s ban in 2021 as Congress considered new legislation.

In 2024, he warned young people “you will go crazy without it.”

Fast forward to the 2024 presidential campaign.

In March, Trump suddenly announced his position changes He decried a bipartisan majority in Congress for pushing a bill that would actually do what he tried to do four years ago: ban the app unless its Chinese owners sell it.

The change in stance occurred around the same time Trump met with Yass.

Mr. Trump has Said they didn’t Discuss the company. But Mr Yas help find Trading firm Susquehanna International Group is one of the biggest backers of the anti-tax lobbying group Club for Growth, which has hired former Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway Conway is lobbying for TikTok in Washington.

Trump told CNBC in March that he still believed TikTok was a national security threat but that young people “would go crazy without it.” He also said the move against TikTok would benefit Facebook, which he called the “enemy of the people.”

Trump continued to use TikTok with great success during the campaign and said it was a key tool in reaching young people this year. His youngest son, Barron, also encouraged him to use the platform to win over young voters, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In September, he posted a video on his social media site, Truth Social, bragging that he was setting records on the app.

“I’m a big star on TikTok now,” he explain. “We’re not going to take any action against TikTok, but they’re going to shut it down. So if you like TikTok, go out and vote for Trump. If you don’t care about TikTok — and other things like safety and security and prosperity — Then you can vote for a Marxist who will destroy our country.

Eric Wilson, a Republican digital strategist and executive director of the Center for Campaign Innovation, a Washington think tank, said that Trump uses TikTok in a way that other Republican lawmakers do not.

“If it continues, Republicans have to figure out how to use it to campaign and appeal to voters,” Mr. Wilson said. “Donald Trump has certainly created a permission structure to do that.”

This week he said the ban set a “dangerous” precedent.

With Trump making his case to the Supreme Court, his stance on TikTok has come full circle and he is now casting himself as the platform’s savior.

“President Trump opposes banning TikTok in the United States at this time and seeks the ability to resolve current issues through political means after taking office,” the brief stated.

Mr Trump Meet with TikTok executives On December 16, he held a ceremony at his resort in Florida, Mar-a-Lago, according to an official familiar with the matter. The meeting was held on the same day The company petitions the Supreme Court The temporary blocking law sets a January 19 deadline. During that meeting, TikTok officials told people close to Trump, and possibly even the president-elect himself, that Trump should be the one deciding TikTok’s fate, according to two people familiar with the meeting. Name revealed. After the meeting, Trump told reporters that he had a “good impression” of TikTok and said he would look into the issue.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Although Trump did not take a position on the legal arguments for and against the law in the brief filed Friday, he called the First Amendment implications of banning TikTok “thorough and disturbing.”

The brief also warns that “exerting extraordinary powers to shut down entire social media platforms, based in large part on concerns about unwelcome speech on the platforms, sets a “dangerous global precedent” on government censorship.”

Trump took office on January 20, a day after the law stipulated that TikTok would be banned in the United States unless it was sold. The Supreme Court will hold a special session on January 10 to hear arguments.

David McCabe and Maggie Haberman Contributed reporting.