Former President Donald Trump on Thursday signaled his opposition to a TikTok ban being considered in Congress, arguing that it would help Facebook, which he called “a true Enemy of the People!”
“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” Trump, 77, claimed in a Truth Social post, apparently referring to Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
“I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!” he added.
Zuckerberg banned Trump from Facebook and Instagram on Jan. 7, 2021, one day after the former president’s supporters stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election win.
Trump seethed about the Meta CEO’s decision, releasing a statement, months later, saying, “Next time I’m in the White House there will be no more dinners, at his request, with Mark Zuckerberg and his wife. It will be all business!”
Meta reinstated Trump last year.
In a 50-0 vote, the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday advanced legislation that seeks to crack down on TikTok.
The bill, introduced earlier this week by Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), would give the popular video-sharing app’s Chinese parent company — ByteDance — 165 days to sell TikTok or face being banned from app stores operated by Apple, Google and others.
The legislation has the support of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and President Biden has said he would sign it into law if it reaches his desk.
In December 2022, Biden signed the No TikTok on Government Devices Act, which banned the app from federal government devices and systems, amid concerns that ByteDance could allow the Chinese Communist Party access to user data.
ByteDance denies it would share user data with the CCP, calling the concerns “misinformation.”
“This legislation has a predetermined outcome: a total ban of TikTok in the United States,” the company said after Thursday’s vote. “The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression.”
Here’s what to know about the potential TikTok ban
- House lawmakers voted Wednesday to compel Chinese Communist Party-tied ByteDance to sell off TikTok within six months or face the popular social media app being banned in the US.
- Rep. Mike Gallagher, the Republican chair of the House select China committee, told TikTok to “break up with the Chinese Communist Party or lose access to your American users.”
- The bill would give ByteDance 165 days to divest TikTok, which is used by more than 170 million Americans, or it would be unlawful for app stores to offer TikTok or to provide web hosting services to ByteDance-controlled applications.
- The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act by a 50-0 vote during a markup session.
- According to the bill, TikTok fans in the US can keep scrolling through their favorite social media app so long as Beijing-based ByteDance gives up on owning it.
- Former White House adviser Steve Bannon jumped on Donald Trump over his opposition to banning TikTok — suggesting his ex-boss’s objections may be motivated by a billionaire donor who holds a large stake in the Chinese-owned app. Trump argued that banning it would further empower Facebook, which he called an “enemy of the people.”
- What TikTok users, content creators need to know as Congress inches closer to banning app in US
Trump has previously supported banning TikTok in the US, going as far as signing an executive order in August of 2020 that gave ByteDance 45 days to sell the social media platform.
Trump’s order was blocked in court and Biden revoked the ban upon taking office, instead directing the Department of Commerce to determine whether TikTok poses a national security threat.
The Post reported on Thursday that billionaire hedge fund manager and GOP megadonor Jeff Yass has been personally calling Republican members of the House to try to halt the legislation seeking to ban the app.
Yass’s fund has a $33 billion stake in Bytedance.
A spokesman for Yass denied that he was making calls to GOP lawmakers.
