Jakarta, Indonesia Sentinel — President-elect Donald Trump has hinted at a possible delay in the looming ban on the social media platform TikTok in the United States. With a U.S. ban on TikTok set to take effect in less than a month, Trump signaled to keep the app, saying he believes the app has played a significant role in his campaign.
Speaking at a conservative rally in Phoenix, Arizona, Trump acknowledged TikTok’s influence, noting that the platform had generated billions of views during his campaign.
“We’re going to have to start thinking because, you know, we did go on TikTok, and we had a great response with billions of views, billions and billions of views,” Trump said on Sunday, December 23, as reported by TechCrunch. “I said, ‘Maybe we should keep this thing [TikTok] around for a while,'” he added.
Trump’s remarks come amid mounting pressure to enforce a ban on TikTok due to national security concerns. In April, the U.S. Senate passed legislation requiring TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest its ownership of the app, citing fears over potential data misuse by the Chinese government.
TikTok has since challenged the law in court, and the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case. However, if ByteDance fails to comply, TikTok could face an effective ban by January 19 next year, just one day before Trump’s inauguration.
Previously last week, Trump had met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew and expressed appreciation for the app’s contribution to his campaign’s outreach efforts. Trump admitted he has a “soft spot” for TikTok due to its role in engaging with voters.
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Despite Trump’s apparent openness to keeping TikTok operational, significant hurdles remain. The U.S. Department of Justice continues to argue that ByteDance’s ownership of TikTok represents a national security threat, a stance supported by a majority of U.S. lawmakers.
TikTok has repeatedly denied these allegations, emphasizing that U.S. user data is stored on Oracle servers in the U.S. and that content moderation decisions are made domestically, not in China.
While Trump appears to be reconsidering the immediate ban, it remains unclear how TikTok could avoid potential ban in the future as the national security concerns remain.
(Raidi/Agung)
