US President-elect Donald Trump, who once sought to ban TikTok during his first term, is now expected to take measures to retain the video streaming platform’s presence in the US when he returns to office.
That’s according to the Washington Post, which cited people familiar with his views. Similar reports have appeared at the New York Times and the Associated Press.
The reports come two months after Trump publicly promised, during his campaign, to “save TikTok.”
“For all of those who want to save TikTok in America, vote for Trump. The other side is closing it up, but I’m now a big star on TikTok,” Trump said in a video posted on his own social media platform, Truth Social, in early September. The president-elect’s TikTok account has garnered over 14 million followers to date.
In 2020, Trump signed an executive order to effectively ban the use of TikTok in the US. However, TikTok succeeded in blocking Trump’s order with a US district judge ruling that Trump overstepped his authority by using his emergency economic powers to try to ban the app.
“There are many ways to hold China to account outside alienating 180 million US users each month. Trump recognized early on that Democrats are the party of bans.”
Kellyanne Conway
Most recently, Trump has shifted his stance on TikTok, opposing the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which requires TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to sell its US operations by January 19, the day before Trump’s inauguration.
“Without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people,” Trump said in an interview with CNBC in March.
The bill, which outgoing US President Joe Biden signed into law earlier this year, includes provisions for a 90-day extension if substantial progress toward a sale is demonstrated.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported, citing a person familiar with internal talks, that ByteDance recognized months ago that Trump’s victory could potentially benefit the company’s interests.
The company previously proposed “Project Texas,” an oversight arrangement with the US government that was rejected by the Biden administration but could resurface as a potential compromise under Trump, the Post said.
Trump could choose not to enforce the ban and avoid penalizing app stores that continue to host the app. However, a legal expert told Politico in September that “Trump is incredibly fickle.” If the ban is enacted before he takes office, Trump could also seek to repeal it with Congress’s support.
Kellyanne Conway, who ran Trump’s first presidential campaign, told the Post: “He appreciates the breadth and reach of TikTok, which he used masterfully along with podcasts and new media entrants to win.”
“There are many ways to hold China to account outside alienating 180 million US users each month. Trump recognized early on that Democrats are the party of bans — gas-powered cars, menthol cigarettes, vapes, plastic straws and TikTok — and to let them own that draconian, anti-personal choice space,” Conway, who now also advocates for TikTok, told the news outlet.
According to the Pew Research Center, public support for a TikTok ban has declined significantly, dropping from 50% to 32% among Americans between 2023 and 2024.
In September, TikTok and the US Justice Department faced off in federal court to present arguments over the ban. TikTok argued that the law violates the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech, while the Justice Department defended the law, arguing that the ban is necessary to protect national security. The department claimed that the problem arises from the data being “extremely valuable to a foreign adversary trying to compromise the security of the United States.”
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