Trump comments on why he didn’t ban TikTok — RT World News
The former US president claimed that he does not want to strengthen Facebook, which he considers the “enemy of the people.”
Former President Donald Trump has claimed that he backed away from an attempt to ban TikTok in the United States due to the video-sharing platform's popularity among young Americans and his reluctance to help boost rival social media giant Facebook.
“Honestly, there are a lot of people on TikTok who love it.” Trump said Monday in a… CNBC interview. “There are a lot of little kids on TikTok who would go crazy without it.” he added, “There are a lot of good things and there are a lot of bad things with TikTok, but the thing I don't like is that without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook an enemy of the people, along with a lot of the media.”
Trump attempted to block access to TikTok in the United States through an executive order in August 2020, arguing that the proliferation of Chinese-owned platforms posed a threat to US national security. He told CNBC that while he faces legal and political opposition to the move, he chose to leave the decision up to Congress because of his mixed feelings about the issue.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee to challenge incumbent President Joe Biden in this year's election, said he still believes TikTok could pose a national security threat and expose the private information of its American users to the Chinese government. However, he has similar concerns about Facebook and other US-based social media companies.
“You have this problem with Facebook and many other companies as well.” Trump said. “I mean they get information, they get a lot of information, they deal with China, they will do whatever China wants.”
Trump warned that banning TikTok could help Facebook double its size. “I think Facebook has been very bad for our country, especially when it comes to elections,” he added. he argued.
Republicans alleged that Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg's donations to local election offices in 2020 were intended to boost voter turnout in Democratic-leaning areas, a claim the Federal Election Commission rejected. Trump called Zuckerberg Share In the 2020 presidential race “illegal.”
Legislation that could ban TikTok or force its Chinese parent company to sell it is reportedly headed to a vote in Congress later this week. Trump opposed the bill.
The former president said that the United States lost its negotiating leverage over Beijing by removing the threat to impose additional tariffs on imports of Chinese goods. “China is our boss now.” claimed. “They are the leader of the United States, almost as if we are a subsidiary of China, because the Biden administration has been so weak.”
Source link
