Donald Trump seemed to come to the defense of TikTok (facing a possible ban by Congress) in a late Thursday post on his social media platform Truth Social.
“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business. I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last elections, to do better. They are the real Enemy of the People!” Trump wrote on Thursday night.
It is not clear why Trump called Facebook “enemy of the people,” a phrase he usually reserves for mainstream media outlets that are not called Fox News. And it doesn’t seem like Trump has ever used the nickname “Zuckerschmuck” to refer to Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, before.
What hidden intentions could Donald Trump have?
Trump’s opposition to a TikTok ban would represent a shift in the policy of the previous president, who signed an executive order in the summer of 2020 that would have required TikTok’s parent company in China, ByteDance, to completely divest from the social media site or face a ban on US soil.
Trump’s executive order, which was held up in a federal court before being reversed when Biden took office in 2021, deemed the existence of TikTok as a “national emergency” for the United States that could threaten the security and economy of the country.
The executive order also included allegations of censorship on TikTok by the Chinese Communist Party, particularly regarding “protests in Hong Kong and China’s treatment of Uighurs and other Muslim minorities.”
The bill has mobilized some of TikTok’s 150 million American users, and congressional offices were flooded with calls on Thursday begging lawmakers not to ban the app.
TikTok even warned US users on Thursday about the possible ban, a measure that angered politicians.
The vote in the House of Representatives does not yet have a date, but it seems that sooner rather than later we will know if TikTok has a future in the US. Although it may seem incredible, Trump wants TikTok to be able to continue as it has been. At least for now.
