Trump Says He Will ‘Never Ban TikTok’ if Elected

Former US President Donald Trump, once a stern critic of China’s TikTok, has said he will never ban the short-video app in the US if he is brought to power in the country’s election in November, according to a report by the New York Post.

Trump’s remarks are a sharp U-turn from his earlier stance on the app, given it was he who began the US crusade against TikTok during his presidency in 2020. At the time he attempted to ban the app calling it a national security concern due to the personal data it collected on its 100 million American users. That plan was, however, struck down by US courts.

At the start of this month, Trump went on to join TikTok as part of a heated election campaign against US President Joe Biden — who already has a profile on the app. The Biden government too has passed a new law requiring TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance to divest the app or a face a ban in the US. Trump called Biden the “worst president in history,” before going on to pledge: “I will never ban TikTok.”

Read the full report: New York Post

Vishakha Saxena

Vishakha Saxena

Vishakha Saxena is the Multimedia and Social Media Editor at Asia Financial. She has worked as a digital journalist since 2013, and is an experienced writer and multimedia producer. As a trader and investor, she is keenly interested in new economy, emerging markets and the intersections of finance and society. You can write to her at [email protected]