According to Reuters, former President Donald Trump made the above statement in an interview with Bloomberg on July 16. The reason he supports Tiktok is to increase competition between social networking platforms for the domestic market.
Previously, Mr. Donald Trump vehemently opposed Tiktok and called this application a threat. He even tried to issue bans not only on Tiktok but also Wechat in 2020 while still holding the position of US President. However, these executive orders were all withdrawn by President Joe Biden in June 2021.
Last month, Mr. Donald Trump started using Tiktok and attracted more than 3 million followers after just one day of creating an account. The decision to join this social networking platform is to help Mr. Trump reach young voters during his campaign for the White House.
Mr. Trump also said he would never support a ban on Tiktok. Mr. Trump said this in an interview last June.
In September, a US appeals court will hear legal challenges to a new law requiring China-based ByteDance to divest TikTok's US assets by January 19, 2024 or face a ban.
Tiktok's parent company, Bytedance, is being required to divest from US assets by January 19 next year or face a ban. This was approved by President Joe Biden on April 24.
US lawmakers are concerned that China could access data about Americans or track them using the app. Therefore, for national security reasons, the White House wants Bytedance to divest.
