Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has accused President Joe Biden of pushing for a ban on TikTok and urged voters to hold him accountable. The U.S. House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation giving TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance about nine months to divest its U.S. operations or face a ban. The bill now moves to the Senate, and Biden has indicated he would sign it into law if it passes.
Trump took to his Truth Social platform to criticize Biden and his stance on TikTok. He stated that Biden would be ‘responsible for banning TikTok’ and accused him of acting to benefit Facebook and increase its dominance. Trump also appealed to younger voters, who make up a significant portion of TikTok’s user base, to consider Biden’s position on the issue when casting their votes.
Ironically, when Trump was president in 2020, he also sought to ban TikTok and WeChat due to national security concerns. However, his efforts were blocked by the courts. TikTok has maintained that it does not and would not share U.S. user data with the Chinese government. The company has argued that a ban would violate the First Amendment rights of its 170 million U.S. users.
The White House has clarified that it does not aim to ban apps like TikTok. Instead, it seeks to ensure TikTok is owned by an American company to protect sensitive personal data, prevent it from being transferred to China, and avoid potential manipulation of users’ views by algorithms controlled by China.
Trump has recently suggested that curbing TikTok would benefit Facebook, a platform he has been critical of since his access was revoked after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. His account was reinstated last year. The proposed legislation would prohibit app stores operated by Apple, Google, and others from offering TikTok or providing web hosting services to ByteDance-controlled applications once the divestment deadline passes.
Biden’s reelection campaign has joined TikTok, while Trump’s campaign has not.
