Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Trump (center) greets attendees at a campaign event at the Smith Family Farm in Smithton, Pennsylvania, on September 23, 2024, to pay tribute to Pennsylvanians who are concerned about the threat of communist China to U.S. agriculture. Speeches from the people.
Win McNamee | Getty Images
back Donald Trump Winning US presidential election last week, tech CEOs like appleTim Cook, YuanMark Zuckerberg and AmazonJeff Bezos public praise President-elect.
One name is conspicuously missing: TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.
His absence is notable given that TikTok faces the most immediate and existential threat from the U.S. government of all the top tech companies. AprilPresident Joe Biden signed a law requiring China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok by January 19. Google Will be banned from supporting TikTok, effectively banning it in the US
However, Trump’s return to the White House may provide a lifeline to Chew and TikTok.
Although both Republicans and Democrats supported Biden’s TikTok ban in April, Trump expressed his opposition to the ban during the campaign. Trump admitted in an interview with CNBC in March that TikTok had national security and data privacy issues.scream box,” but he also said that the app “has a lot of advantages and a lot of disadvantages.”
Trump also used TikTok’s precarious future in the United States as a reason for people to vote against Democrats Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We won’t take any action against TikTok, but they will shut it down, so if you like TikTok, go out and vote for Trump,” the president-elect said in a statement in September. postal The truth about him social services.
Trump has not publicly discussed his TikTok plans since his election, but Trump-Vance transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told CNBC that the president-elect “will deliver on his promises.”
“The American people re-elected President Trump by a huge margin, giving him a mandate to fulfill his campaign promises,” Levitt said in a statement.
After being elected president, Trump’s rhetoric on TikTok began to change Met in February Teaming up with billionaire Jeff Yass, a Republican megadonor and major investor in Chinese social media apps.
According to NBC and CNBC reports, Yas’s trading company Susquehanna International Group owns 15% of ByteDance, while Yas owns 7% of the company, equivalent to approximately US$21 billion. report March. That month too report Yas is a part-owner of the company that merged with TrumpTruth Social’s parent company.
TikTok executive Shou Zi Chew testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on online child sexual exploitation at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 31, 2024.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
If ByteDance fails to sell TikTok by the January deadline, Trump could call on Congress to repeal the law, or he could introduce a more “selective enforcement” law that would essentially allow TikTok to continue operating in the U.S. without facing penalties. She said “selective enforcement” is similar to police not always enforcing every jaywalking incident.
Meanwhile, on TikTok, Chew has remained silent since Trump’s victory, just as he had been before Election Day.
Long Le, a Chinese business expert and associate professor at Santa Clara University, said the company may adopt a neutral attitude and a wait-and-see strategy for now.
Le said it was difficult to foresee what Trump would do.
“He’s also a contrarian, which is why he’s so unpredictable,” Le said. “He can say one thing and the next year he’ll change his mind.”
TikTok did not respond to a request for comment.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 31, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong | Getty Images
“Facebook is terrible for our country”
When it comes to social media apps, Trump’s campaign rhetoric suggests he cares more about TikTok rival Meta.
In an interview with “Squawk Box” in March, Trump said that Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, poses a bigger problem than TikTok. He also said that the TikTok ban would only benefit Meta, whom he called the “enemy of the people.”
“Facebook is very bad for our country, especially when it comes to elections,” Trump said.
But Trump’s negative view of Meta may have changed after the CEO’s comments Mark Zuckerberg Over the past few months, Cornell’s Kreps said.
Zuckerberg descriptive The photo of Trump raising his fist after a failed assassination attempt in July was “one of the worst things I’ve ever seen in my life.” After Trump won, Zuckerberg congratulated him, explain He looks forward to working with the President-elect and his administration.
“My sense as Trump’s armchair psychologist is that he really likes the people who sing his praises, so I think his view of Zuckerberg and Mehta has changed,” Kreps said. And then he might go back to American economic nationalism and say, ‘Let’s protect American industry and keep the ban on China.’ ‘”
Meta did not respond to a request for comment.
Milton Mueller, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Public Policy, said continued support for a TikTok ban could also gain Trump political support from lawmakers concerned about China’s global political and business influence.
“I don’t think he’s going to score high politically by supporting TikTok,” Mueller said, noting that few lawmakers like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., have been able to do that. be opposed to ban.
Le said even if Trump does offer TikTok a lifeline, it’s unclear how much damage it will do to his administration because many politicians are reluctant to criticize him publicly.
“They won’t challenge him because he has so much power,” Le said.
Since launching his TikTok account in June, Trump has amassed more than 14 million followers. Le said that given Trump’s social media savvy, he may not want to make a decision that would cause him to lose the public attention and influence he has gained on TikTok.
watch: Washington, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb says TikTok is “digital nicotine” for young people
