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November 14, 2024
Will Trump Try To Stop the US TikTok Ban?
TikTok’s history in the United States is a complicated one, especially in recent years. In August 2020, then-President Donald Trump issued an executive order seeking to ban the app for national security reasons, as NPR reported at the time.
The ban faced a litany of legal challenges and never actually came into force, and in 2021 then-President Joe Biden revoked Trump’s executive order entirely.
Then, as a separate NPR report detailed earlier this year, Biden signed a law which would ban TikTok unless it was sold within a prescribed time frame. That deadline of Jan. 19, 2025, is fast approaching.
Now, questions are circulating about the fate of the popular social media platform as Trump, having emerged victorious in the Nov. 5 election, has signaled at least some interest in preventing or otherwise sidestepping the ban — an apparent change of heart. According to Bloomberg, Trump has “suggested publicly that he thinks a TikTok ban is a bad idea.”
But will Trump actually try to halt the upcoming TikTok ban, and is such an outcome feasible?
Trump, TikTok, and the Options on the Table
Writing for Bloomberg, Alexandra S. Levine laid out a variety of potential outcomes presented to Trump as he prepares to take office.
“It’s possible Trump could devise an alternative solution to a sale, urge Congress to roll back the law or instruct his Justice Department not to enforce it, but none of those scenarios are as simple as they sound,” Levine suggested.
While pushing a repeal of the ban through Congress — which it appears Trump may have great control over, after the GOP achieved both House and Senate majorities, according to CNN projections — may appear the simplest option, it comes with a few serious caveats.
First, as ABC News’ Max Zahn reported, Congress voted on the ban just seven months ago. In the House, the ban passed by a landslide, with 352 representatives voting for and 65 voting against. Similar results came from the Senate, with 79 senators voting for the ban, 18 voting in opposition, and three electing to abstain. It would likely take a great deal of Trump’s political capital to force a complete reversal of fortunes concerning the TikTok ban after such a recent, decisive result.
Second, as Zahn indicated, there is the matter of Trump’s policy stance on matters concerning China. ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, is a Chinese organization.
“A repeal effort carries political risks for Trump, since it could be perceived as conciliatory toward China, in contrast with the adversarial tone voiced by Trump on the campaign trail, James Lewis, a data security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told ABC News,” Zahn wrote.
Trump May Not Have To Do Anything at All, but a Sale Is Far From Guaranteed
There is a chance, albeit a slim one, that Trump may not have to act on the ban whatsoever.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington is set to deliver a ruling on the ban on Dec. 6, per ABC News. However, based on results of the September hearing concerning the ban — one which “did not go well for TikTok” — Bloomberg Intelligence analysts slashed the likelihood of TikTok beating the ban from 70% to just 30%.
Lastly, a buyer may emerge. According to Bloomberg, one name that has already signaled interest is former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who served under the Trump administration during the president-elect’s first term. This avenue, too, is fraught, as Intelligencer pointed out.
“After years of work, the campaign to ban TikTok has substantially succeeded. Now, it needs to be actively undone, and the Trump administration is probably going to have to participate in that undoing. The possibilities are not ideal. The government could get more directly involved in finding an American buyer, which ByteDance has supposedly ruled out and could risk destroying the app (Chinese export controls might prevent ByteDance from including its recommendation algorithms — the core of the platform — in a sale),” Intelligencer stated.
This much is certain: TikTok’s fate in the United States is far from sealed in any form.
Discussion Questions
Do you think Donald Trump will actively try to repeal, reform, or otherwise defeat the TikTok ban?
Which outcome is most likely concerning the upcoming ban?
Would it be wiser for Trump to actively attempt to defeat the ban, to work to reform the ban, or to stay away from the issue entirely?
Poll
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He should try. Though whether he can do it remains to be seen. In my view the legislation that could ban TikTok is a prime example of government overreach trying to hide behind the pretext of national security. It doesn’t allow for proper due process, and it at least partly infringes on the First Amendment. Moreover, the way it was brought about – lumping it into a wider bill that gives aid to Ukraine and other countries – is shameful. This is a serious matter, and it needs a dedicated, focused bill at the very least. If President Trump is unable to stop this then it should go right up to the Supreme Court. This is too critical and sensitive an issue to simply be waved through.
It depends on what a lot of confusion in Congress some say influence some say Data collection and propaganda as well.
Now influence you can be influence by your mom your dad you’re grandma even in your job a co worker could influence you even your church pastor could influence you.
Data collection thing they can get it from anywhere money talks bull$h#t walk.
Most people just want evidence they are spying or collecting the data.
Some non-biased polls such as Rasmussen, and other non-biased polls, of which there are few, have a good sense of public opinion. Americans seem to view China as America’s number one enemy. The spy balloons exposed China’s active spying on the United States.
I’m not sure we know for certain that China spies on us, or influences our young people, through TikTok. Young Americans will have a fit if Tik Tok goes away.
So, I hope the Trump administration will deploy some high qualified people to fully investigate China’s activities. Not an easy task, but its the only right step to take before deciding to allow Tik Tok, or not.
If the government can make a good case about how their safety and security are at stake, even young people will understand why Tik Tok must be dropped.
An ideal solution would be for someone like Elon Musk to imitate Tik Tok, and replace everything about it.
Based on past history, I’m sure many options – many of them completely contradictory -will be considered.
And then all of them will be advocated (tho
presumablyhopefully not at the same time)No, Trump will not stop the TikTok ban. It is widely supported in thte government, and offers China a tremendous insight into the USA. However, one of the obvious options was not mentioned in the article. Elon Musk, who already plays in this space, might be another option for TikTok to be purchased by an American and eliminate the ban. Plus he brings knowledge and familiarity on what would be required to make this sale possible.
Tik Tok may or may not be a Chinese spy platform, but the real issue is our behavior. Take ownership of that and the issue is solved. That will not, of course happen, but this just (to me at least) looks like another case of Government overreach.
No clue what our exec branch will do. More important are the effects either way. If the ban is unenforced, we leave a potential security gap where propaganda can be levered, people can be surveilled and data can be collected. Govt overreach or not, it is a matter of security- something we definitely need the government for. If the ban is enforced, kids and others will find another avenue pretty quickly- we’ve already seen competitors with YouTube et. al. while I would expect to see several new startups begin their journeys with plenty of investment dollars to make it an American enterprise. If we want to mess up the kids, let’s make sure it’s us doing it…:)
Trump is more likely to devise an alternative plan and make it his own. He might also leverage the technical/business talent on his team to find the solution that he can quickly implement.