Will Trump Save Tik Tok for 170m Americans?
Trump weights into Tik Tok ban battle ahead of being President
One hundred and seventy million US-based TikTok users face the app being banned in approximately three weeks. The app is already been removed from government-owned devices in the UK.
Security concerns have surrounded the use of TikTok for a long time. Although the ultimate owners of the app, ByteDance, claim that no data has been passed on to the Chinese government, others are not so sure.
During his first presidency, Donald Trump called for a ban on the app, although nothing was implemented during his term.
It took until March 2024 for the US Senate to pass a law banning the use of the app, with the current switch-off date set for January 19, 2025. President Joe Biden countersigned the law.
TikTok has made several attempts to reverse the ban, but at the time of writing, there are only 21 days left before it is supposed to disappear. The ban could be reversed or delayed if TikTok were sold to an acceptable new owner. ByteDance has no wish to sell the app, and so far, nobody has publicly come forward to buy the technology.
ByteDance has launched several appeals through the courts to overturn the ban, none of which have been successful. The courts have reluctantly agreed upon a final hearing for January 10, nine days before the current deadline. What the court will decide will only be known on or after the 10th.
With Donald Trump heading back to the Oval Office, the fate of TikTok for 170 million users in the USA remains uncertain. In his first term, he wanted TikTok banned—now he wants it to stay, claiming he has a “warm spot” in his heart for the app. Trump has 14.7 million followers on the platform and hates to lose an audience. However, the ban date is one day before Trump picks up the keys to the White House for the second time.
The president-elect, before inauguration day, is no more than the president-elect. He, along with the incoming administration, has no power or authority to change current laws, including the one that is due to end TikTok across the US.
Following rules and regulations enshrined in law has never been a Trump strength, and he is already attempting to have the ban date moved from January 19 so he can “review” the app during his presidency. For “review,” read “save.”
To try to move the date (read: change the law before he is in power), Trump has launched his “special request” to the Supreme Court to push the January 19 deadline back. It isn’t unknown whether the courts will hear his challenge, let alone stop the ban. After all, who is he? Trump is a private citizen who disagrees with a law and wants it changed.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew traveled to Mar-a-Lago for a face-to-face meeting with the president-elect in mid-December, no doubt to ask for his help in saving the app.
The US isn’t the only place concerned about the security risks the TikTok app poses.
In the UK, as far back as March 2023, the then-Conservative government issued a decree requiring the removal of the app from any government- or ministry-owned mobile phone.
The then-Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Oliver Dowden, said:
“The security of sensitive government information must come first, so today we are banning this app on government devices. The use of other data-extracting apps will be kept under review.
Restricting the use of TikTok on government devices is a prudent and proportionate step following advice from our cybersecurity experts.”
Outside government, some British businesses have also required employees to remove the app from company-owned devices.
The two countries are managing the app in different ways. The current law in the US mandates a total ban in three weeks. The UK's ban applies only to government-owned and some company devices.
In both cases, security is cited as the reason for the respective bans.
The president-elect wants to overturn the law and allow TikTok to continue despite fears from cybersecurity experts. If those security issues are real, and many think they are, then sensitive information on individual phones and devices could be open to and extracted by the app and, ultimately, passed to the Chinese government.
That would include the mobile phone owned by one Donald Trump, president-elect of the United States. Imagine the level of “sensitive information” on that phone! Trump appears happy to let the app read and make use of his data.
Does that worry you? It doesn’t worry Donald Trump.