With the so-called 'TikTok Ban Act' in the United States set to take effect in about a month, President-elect Donald Trump has expressed his desire to maintain TikTok's service within the U.S.
On the 22nd (local time), at the 'America Fest Conference' held by Turning Point USA, the largest conservative youth organization in the U.S., in Phoenix, Arizona, President-elect Trump stated, "Considering that we entered TikTok and received billions of views with great response, I think we need to reconsider TikTok," adding, "The charts TikTok brought me were record-breaking and looked so beautiful. I thought I should keep this guy around for a while."
President-elect Trump's remarks are interpreted as highlighting that his campaign activities through TikTok contributed to his victory and expressing opposition to TikTok's withdrawal from the U.S. market. During this year's presidential campaign, Trump opened a TikTok channel to communicate with young voters, attracting 14 million followers, and also emphasized on his social networking service (SNS) Truth Social, "Americans who want to save TikTok should vote for Trump."
Earlier, ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, found itself in a position where it must sell its U.S. business rights by January 19 next year, the day before President-elect Trump's inauguration, following the bipartisan passage of the 'TikTok Ban Act' in April. In response, last week ByteDance filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to suspend the law's effect in court, and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew flew to Mar-a-Lago, President-elect Trump's private residence in Palm Beach, Florida, for a private meeting to seek 'rescue.'
At a press conference at the time, President-elect Trump also said, "I have warm feelings about TikTok in my heart," and stated that he would look into ways to save TikTok. The 'TikTok Ban Act' allows the president to extend the sale deadline by 90 days, and ByteDance is employing a 'stalling' strategy until Trump's inauguration. Currently, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments on January 10 next year regarding whether the TikTok Ban Act violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression.
However, despite this 'green light' for TikTok's rescue, the recently appointed foreign and security officials in Trump's second-term cabinet, known for their hardline stance against China, are seen as a variable. Senator Marco Rubio, a close diplomatic ally nominated as the next Secretary of State, wrote in a 2022 Washington Post op-ed that "TikTok grants the Chinese government a unique ability to surveil American youth," and argued that "this potential spyware must be banned before it is too late." Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota and a hardliner on immigration, who was selected as the next Secretary of Homeland Security, is known as the first governor to ban TikTok on state-owned devices.
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