Trump: 'I support TikTok'

US presidential candidate Donald Trump said he does not want TikTok to be banned, even if ByteDance does not divest in the US.

"I support TikTok because we need competition. Without TikTok, Facebook and Instagram would have no competition," Mr. Trump told Bloomberg on July 16.

TikTok declined to comment.

Former US President Donald Trump in Atlanta, Georgia on June 27. Photo: AFP

As US president in 2020, Mr Trump tried to ban TikTok and China's WeChat, calling ByteDance's social network a "threat". The move was later blocked by US courts.

However, he has recently sided with TikTok. He created a TikTok account last month and has repeatedly criticized Facebook and Instagram for locking his account, only to reopen it a few days ago.

On April 25, US President Joe Biden signed a law requiring TikTok to sell its US assets by January 19, 2025 or be banned from the country entirely. The move came a day after Congress approved the bill and sent it to the White House.

A TikTok spokesperson at the time criticized this as "abolishing the constitutional right to free speech for 170 million Americans, damaging millions of businesses, causing artists to lose their audiences, and destroying the livelihoods of creators across America."

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is scheduled to hear arguments in September on legal challenges to ByteDance’s request to divest TikTok in the US before deciding on a ban, a moment that could decide the fate of the short-video network in the US.

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TikTok sues US government
TikTok and its parent company ByteDance filed a lawsuit after the US government passed a law forcing the short video platform to sell itself or be banned.

TikTok’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on May 7, rejects allegations that the platform may have shared U.S. user data with China or otherwise compromised national security. TikTok argues that the U.S. government has failed to provide official evidence that these actions occurred.

A person holds a sign "Keep TikTok" in front of the US Capitol building in mid-March. Photo: Reuters

TikTok's legal arguments are based on the First Amendment, which says Congress cannot pass laws that restrict Americans' free speech rights, depriving the platform's 170 million users. "For the first time in history, the United States Congress has enacted a law that requires a single platform to be permanently banned nationwide," the lawsuit says.

On April 24, US President Joe Biden signed a law forcing ByteDance to divest from TikTok within 9 months or withdraw from the US after both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed the bill.

In its lawsuit, TikTok asserts that divestment is “simply impossible.” The issue is not about commerce, technology, or legality, but about the rights of American users. “There is no question that the law would force TikTok to shut down on January 19, 2025, silencing 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways that are impossible elsewhere,” the lawsuit says.

The White House and the US Department of Justice have not commented.

Each side has made its own case, but TikTok is losing, says Hans, an associate professor at Cornell Law School. "The First Amendment is a trump card that you can use to prevail if you can make a good argument. But national security is also the government's trump card, and the government usually wins when it claims it," Hans says. "The question is: Which trump card will the court decide is more valuable?'"

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