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Donald Trump at an election campaign appearance: The ex-president wants to prevent another law
Photo: Rebecca Blackwell / AP
The operators of the popular social media app TikTok have an unexpected ally in the fight over a possible ban on the app in the USA: After the draft law against the platform received widespread approval from both parties in the responsible committee of the US House of Representatives, Donald Trump On Friday night, he spoke out against the plan on his Truth Social platform.
As usual, the ex-president combines his political demands with crude insults and conspiracy stories.
"I don't want Facebook to profit," Trump writes in his three-line message, accusing the social media company's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, of influencing the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to current incumbent Joe Biden.
Republicans want to regulate social media platforms
In doing so, the ex-president is once again torpedoing a plan that Democrats and Republicans had previously agreed on.
The bill aims to give TikTok owner ByteDance almost six months to relinquish control of the popular app.
Otherwise, there is a risk of the app being removed from the app stores for users in the USA.
Trump had also announced measures against TikTok during his own term in office, but ultimately failed.
Today, TikTok has two billion users worldwide and, according to estimates, more than 170 million in the USA.
It is the only successful online platform in the West that does not come from the United States.
There are concerns, especially there, but also in Europe, that the app could be misused by Chinese authorities to collect information about users.
Governments of several countries and the EU Commission banned the use of TikTok on work cell phones.
Several US states governed by Republicans have now passed their own laws to extensively regulate social media platforms.
A complete ban on such apps for minors in Florida was recently vetoed by Governor Ron DeSantis.
Major donor invested in TikTok
Why Trump wants to stop a law that was passed without dissent by members of his party in the US Congress' Trade Committee is now the subject of speculation.
There are many conceivable reasons: The ex-president threw out a compromise on border security negotiated by members of his own party - apparently so that he could continue to use the issue in the election campaign.
Added to this is the influence of billionaire Jeff Yass, who makes large donations to Republicans while also investing in TikTok.
According to Politico, Yass recently spoke to Trump, and now, according to the New York Post, he is threatening MPs with a withdrawal of donations if they vote for the TikTok law.
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