Former President Donald Trump is coming out against a renewed push to ban TikTok in the United States.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “If you get rid of TikTok, 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!” he added.
If you get rid of TikTok, 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 J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) March 8, 2024
Donald Trump Truth Social 11:05 PM EST 3/07/24
His post marks a stark reversal from 2020 when then as president he tried to ban TikTok from app stores in the U.S.
Now, putting aside the nonsense about Facebook cheating — whatever that means — the sentiment here is correct.
Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat have all had been the subject of studies on how they impact the mental health of their users, and concerns about how they handle private data. And, of course, there are concerns about foreign entities sharing disinformation on those platforms as well.
So banning TikTok altogether might seem like an easy fix. But it would not solve the problem as users would likely just revert to the other platforms or newer ones that have their own problems controlling misinformation or harmful content.
Instead, it would be infringing on users’ First Amendment rights to make lawmakers feel like they did something strong to stand up to China.
None of this is to say there are no reasons to be concerned about TikTok. And if state and federal governments want to ban the app on government devices and in sensitive locations, that is more than fine.
Yet, overall, Americans should be made aware of the risks and understand the concerns about the app before they hop on it for their dances or to talk about turning school children trans.
And they should be able to choose whether those risks are acceptable to them or not, instead of the government telling them they have no option.
