Former President Donald Trump, changing his tune about TikTok, has opposed a bipartisan bill that would ban the Chinese short-form video-sharing platform.
Taking to Truth Social last week, Trump condemned a measure that aims at banning TikTok. "If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business," Trump posted on his social platform.
Despite the lack of evidence, Trump accused Facebook of cheating in the last election. Further admitting that he doesn't want Facebook to "do better," Trump labelled the Mark Zuckerberg-led social networking site "a true enemy of the people."
Trump's comments came amid an online uproar from TikTok users resisting a proposed bipartisan bill that aimed to either ban the app in the US or force its owners to sell it to a non-Chinese company. In an attempt to garner support, the app urged users to call Congress and protest the bill.
Much to TikTok's chagrin, the effort appears to have backfired. Following an inundation of calls from users to Congress, all 50 lawmakers on a House panel voted to advance the bill, according to a report by Forbes. The White House supports the idea, echoing Trump's stance during his presidency.
In 2020, Trump was gearing up to ban TikTok, unless the platform managed to secure a US buyer by a certain deadline. "As far as TikTok is concerned, we're banning them from the United States," Trump told reports aboard Air Force One in 2020.
Pool report via main print pooler David Cloud/LAT pic.twitter.com/RDV8LjnLLQ
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 1, 2020
Unsurprisingly, the effort fizzled out. Since then, Trump has clashed with the owner of a different social network: Facebook.
Donald Trump and Mark Zuckerberg are at odds
The former president has accused Zuckerberg of being a "criminal" without evidence and has alleged that he altered the outcome of the 2020 election through his previous donations. However, there is no evidence that Zuckerberg's past donations were partisan.
Since then, Trump has faced indictment on four criminal cases, amounting to 91 felony counts, which include charges related to election interference. In 2022, Trump said "the weirdo," referring to Zuckerberg, came to the White House for dinner during his presidency and "kissed [his] a-s all night."
Zuckerberg has previously criticised Trump, expressing being "deeply shaken and disgusted" by some of the former president's inflammatory posts on Facebook. In 2021, Trump was banned from Facebook indefinitely for inciting violence.
Announcing the decision in a Facebook post, Zuckerberg said the company would block Trump's accounts on Facebook and Instagram for "at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete." Meta lifted the ban about 2 years later.
Elon Musk agrees with the former US president
Trump's recent post about TikTok gained support from a prominent CEO, Elon Musk. The X (formerly Twitter) owner reportedly had a recent meeting with Trump in Palm Beach, Florida. After the meeting, Musk shared on X that he wouldn't be making donations to either Trump or Biden.
Trump’s statement there is correct
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 8, 2024
"Trump's statement there is correct," Elon Musk posted on X. It is no secret that Musk doesn't like Zuckerberg. The two have been engaged in a longstanding feud since 2016 when a SpaceX rocket launch mishap destroyed a Facebook satellite.
