Trump Says Banning TikTok Would Empower ‘Enemy Of The People’ Facebook

Former President Donald Trump said on Monday that the ban of TikTok is a tricky move for the United States, as he believes it would benefit Facebook, “an enemy of the people.”

Trump says TikTok is national security threat — but banning it would empower ‘enemy of the people’ Facebook https://t.co/CPUBl65pFb pic.twitter.com/6O5fJgUbb2

— New York Post (@nypost) March 11, 2024

During a call-in interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin asked Trump about comments he made last week that appeared to be an opposition to a House bill that would ban TikTok as well as other ByteDance apps from U.S. web hosting services as well as the Apple and Google app stores.

“It appears that you’ve now reversed your view on banning TikTok. Why is that?” Sorkin asked.

In response, Trump said, “So I had it done. And then Congress said, well, they never, they ultimately, usually fail, you know, they are extremely political. But as you know, I was at the point where I could have got that done if I wanted to. I sort of said, you guys decide you make that decision because it’s a tough decision to make.”

Going further to explain how much of a tough decision it is to ban the social media platform favored by youths, the GOP presumptive presidential nominee noted, “Frankly, there are a lot of people on TikTok that love it. There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it. There are a lot of users. There’s, you know, a lot of good, and there’s a lot of bad with TikTok.”

However, he added, “But the thing I don’t like is that without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger. And I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people, along with a lot of the media. What Facebook did with lock boxes, with a $500 million Zuckerberg’s lock boxes that he put in. I mean, I considered illegal…They deal in China, and China if China wants anything from them, they will give it. So that’s a national security risk also. But when I look at it, I’m not looking to make Facebook double the size. And if you, if you ban TikTok, Facebook and others, but mostly Facebook will be a big beneficiary. And I think Facebook has been very just, I think Facebook has been very bad for our country, especially when it comes to elections.”

On Thursday, Trump took to Truth Social to point out an issue with the effort to ban TiKTok even though he previously tried to ban the social media giant and forced its sale while he was president.

“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 wrote.