Former U.S. President Donald Trump stated that banning TikTok in the country would benefit its rival, Facebook, the platform that he continuously criticized.
He also claimed that eliminating TikTok in the U.S. would affect the young people who are interested in it, despite its national security risk.
(Photo : Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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Trump Lambasts Facebook's Increasing Impact
In an interview with CNBC, Trump explained that there are both good and bad things that come with TikTok. "But the thing I don't like is that without TikTok you're going to make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people, along with a lot of the media," he added.
He also claimed that Facebook has been "very bad" for the country, especially during elections. Last 2020, Trump lost his seat to now-president Joe Biden. Since then, he has been criticizing Facebook's impact and refusing to concede defeat.
Trump also believes that "a lot of young kids on TikTok will go crazy without it." The former president has been very vocal on opposing the vote of the House leadership to continue the ban on TikTok.
U.S. Government Pushes Through Process of Banning TikTok
The House Republican leaders are reportedly working to pass legislation this week that would force ByteDance to sell the platform or face being banned in the country due to alleged national security risks.
"We must ensure the Chinese government cannot weaponize TikTok against American users and our government through data collection and propaganda," said Steve Scalise, representative and Republican of Louisiana.
TikTok has been the center of issues for the 2024 presidential campaign. The platform currently holds 170 million U.S. users, both parties sought the platform to campaign towards young voters.
Last month, Biden's 2024 campaign has officially joined TikTok. Regardless, the president has expressed the national security concerns brought by the platform.
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