(ReliableNews.org) – Republicans have pushed for a TikTok ban for years. It began during former President Donald Trump’s administration when he issued an executive order prohibiting the app. Now, the presumptive GOP nominee has had a change of heart.
On June 1, Trump joined TikTok in a video with Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) CEO Dana White. The executive announced, “The president is now on TikTok!” Trump responded, “It’s my honor.” The video has 5.1 million likes as of Tuesday, June 4 and the former president has just as many followers.
The decision to join TikTok is a dramatic change from his position just four years ago. “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” he said while traveling on Air Force One in July 2020. He also told reporters that he was considering using his emergency economic powers to ban the social media app.
Trump went on to issue an executive order banning the platform if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, refused to divest in the app. That’s the same requirement that was in a measurement that President Joe Biden signed into law earlier this year. The legislation, which was included in a foreign aid package, requires the same of the app within a year or it will be banned from US app stores.
The former president changed his tune in recent months. He has argued that banning TikTok would benefit Facebook, the American social media company that he has called the “true Enemy of the People.”
While Republicans were the primary critics of the social media app at first, some Democrats have jumped on board in recent years. The lawmakers are concerned about China forcing ByteDance to turn over information about the app’s American users. There are also concerns about the app spreading Chinese propaganda. The app demotes content critical of the Chinese government.
TikTok has sued the government over the potential ban.
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