U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Monday TikTok was a national security threat, but he also said banning the popular app would hurt some kids and only strengthen Facebook’s Meta Platforms, which Republicans have harshly criticized Facebook.
Trump reiterated his concerns as lawmakers this week considered a bill that would give TikTok owner ByteDance about six months to divest the popular short-video app.
The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on Wednesday on legislation that would give China’s ByteDance a short notice to divest TikTok, the popular short-video app used by 170 million Americans. The House is voting under expedited rules, which require two-thirds of lawmakers to vote “yes” for the measure to pass.
The FBI, Justice Department and Office of the Director of National Intelligence plan to hold a classified briefing for House members, two sources said. FBI Director Chris Wray reiterated concerns about TikTok during Monday’s hearing.
The U.S. Intelligence Community’s 2024 Annual Threat Assessment Report released on Monday said, “TikTok accounts operated by China’s propaganda arm reportedly targeted candidates from both political parties during the 2022 U.S. midterm election cycle.”
The Justice Department detailed its security concerns about TikTok in a document last week, first reported by Reuters.
“I’m not going to let Facebook double in size,” Trump told CNBC on Monday. “If you ban TikTok, then Facebook and other companies, but mainly Facebook, will be the big beneficiary. I think Facebook has been very dishonest.”
Trump recently met with investor Jeff Yass, who confirmed on CNBC that his investment firm Susquehanna International Group holds a stake in ByteDance. Trump said they didn’t talk about TikTok.
Meta Platforms shares closed down 4.4% on Monday at $483.59. The company declined to comment.
Trump had previously criticized the company, now called Meta Platforms, for revoking his access to Facebook and Instagram after deleting two of his posts during the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol. His account was reinstated in February 2023.
Trump also said the TikTok ban could affect young people. “A lot of little kids on TikTok would go crazy without it,” he said. “TikTok has a lot of good and a lot of bad.”
According to people familiar with the matter, Tiktok CEO Shou Zi Chew will visit Capitol Hill later this week as scheduled to speak with senators.
President Joe Biden said last week he would sign the bill after committees unanimously approved it.
TikTok said it does not and will not share U.S. user data with the Chinese government and argued the House bill amounted to a ban. It’s unclear whether China would approve any sale or whether TikTok could be spun off within six months.
“This legislation has one predetermined outcome: a total ban on TikTok in the United States,” the company said on Friday. “The government is seeking to deprive 170 million Americans of their constitutional right to free speech.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said, “We must ensure that the Chinese government cannot use TikTok as a weapon against American users and our government through data collection and propaganda.”
The bill would give ByteDance 165 days to divest TikTok. Without doing so, app stores run by Apple, Alphabet’s Google and others cannot legally offer TikTok or provide web hosting services for ByteDance-controlled apps.
In 2020, Trump tried to ban TikTok and the Chinese enterprise WeChat, but was blocked by the court.
The app is popular, but getting legislation approved by the House and Senate in an election year can be difficult. Last month, Biden’s re-election campaign joined TikTok.
Trump’s campaign has not yet joined TikTok.
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