Donald Trump views TikTok differently than Joe Biden does.
In a recent statement, former President Donald Trump expressed his concerns on Monday, acknowledging that he believed the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok posed a threat to national security. However, Trump claimed that a ban on TikTok could inadvertently strengthen the position of Facebook, which he called the “enemy of the people.”
“I do believe that,” Donald Trump, 77, told CNBC “Gaga Box” in response to a question about his previous belief that TikTok posed a national security threat.
“I do believe this, we very much have to focus on privacy issues and make sure that we protect the privacy and data rights of the American people,” the presumptive Republican nominee added. “But, you know, we have the same issues with other companies. problem; the same problem exists at Facebook and many other companies.”
Donald Trump highlighted the difficulty of the decision to ban TikTok, noting that the absence of the widely used app could inadvertently benefit Facebook. The former president’s comments underscore the complex considerations surrounding national security and competition among major social media platforms.
“Quite frankly, there are a lot of people on TikTok who love it. A lot of little kids on TikTok would go crazy without it,” he said. “There are a lot of users; that is, you know TikTok has a lot of good and a lot of bad, but what I don’t like is that without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I think Facebook becomes the enemy of the people, and a lot of the media enemy.
“If you ban TikTok, Facebook and other companies, but mainly Facebook, you will be a big beneficiary,” he added, arguing that Facebook is “very bad for the country,” especially when it comes to elections.
TikTok, owned by Chinese internet giant ByteDance, has taken the world by storm with its viral short videos, but has raised concerns over user privacy. Some governments, including India, are concerned that Chinese ownership of the app (by ByteDance) could allow the Chinese government to access user data. Worried about this potential risk, India banned TikTok and more than 100 other Chinese apps in June 2020 for national security reasons.
