Former President Donald Trump came out against an effort to ban the popular social media platform TikTok this week as a bipartisan group in Congress pushed for the bill. The former president issued an order to force a Chinese company to divest from the platform during his time in office.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that if TikTok was banned, “Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business. I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!”
Donald Trump wrote late Mar. 7 on social media site Truth Social that 'if you get rid of TikTok, Facebook… will double their business,' and added he does not want Facebook 'doing better' https://t.co/rsFxgq23eh pic.twitter.com/uxmsH1OsTP
— Reuters Legal (@ReutersLegal) March 8, 2024
President Joe Biden indicated that he would sign the TikTok ban bill if it came to his desk.
The move was lauded by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who shared a screenshot of the former president’s post. Paul wrote that if Congress banned the platform, then it would “be acting just like the Chinese communists who have also banned TikTok… why not just defend the first amendment?” he asked.
The former president attempted to have the company be diverted from the Chinese company ByteDance during his tenure.
Paul argued that the Trump administration “helped solve Tik Tok data problem through Project Texas, which would store and secure” data from Americans within the United States, though some data is still being stored in China.
“So why is the House GOP siding with Biden and still trying to ban Tik Tok?” Paul asked.
Trump’s choice was not supported by former Vice President Mike Pence, who wrote on social media that the “era of appeasing the Chinese Communist Party is over. Politicians claiming to be ‘tough on China’ while simultaneously supporting TikTok spewing CCP-sanctioned propaganda across the world are wrong.”
“China is poisoning the minds of American children. Enough is enough,” Pence wrote.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), who sits on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, wrote that a “lot of people are going to say that this is anti-technology, or… that this is somehow a specifically anti-TikTok piece of legislation — nothing could be further from the truth. This is about making sure our foreign adversaries cannot be targeting Americans.”
