U.S. Presidential Candidate Donald Trump has expressed his support for TikTok, emphasizing the need for competition against platforms like Facebook and Instagram. 

The backstory: Trump’s initial TikTok opposition

During his tenure as president, Trump was a vocal critic of the social media app TikTok, citing national security concerns over the app's Chinese ownership. Trump labeled the app a threat and attempted to ban it alongside WeChat, another Chinese-owned app. On August 6th, 2020, his administration issued executive orders to ban the app in the United States unless it was sold to an American company. Trump argued that the app’s Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, posed a threat to U.S. security by sharing user data with the Chinese government. This led to legal battles with TikTok suing Trump’s administration. 

Trump’s change in tone on TikTok

Having recently joined the app last month, Trump has made comments against a potential TikTok ban in the U.S. Trump stated, "I’m for TikTok because you need competition. If you don’t have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram."

He argued that TikTok is necessary to ensure competition in the social media market and the move to ban the social media app would monopolize social media apps and empower Meta’s Facebook and Instagram. Following his suspension from Facebook and Instagram for two years after the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, Trump has been vocal against these platforms. “Without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people,” he said previously on CNBC’s Squawk Box.

Current administration’s stance

The debate over TikTok’s future in the U.S. comes amid heightened national security concerns. In April 2024, President Joe Biden signed a TikTok ban bill into law, requiring ByteDance to find new owners or face prohibition from the U.S. market. However, the fate of TikTok will be decided in a significant legal battle set for when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will hear arguments on the new law mandating ByteDance’s sale of its assets or face ban.