Trump's stance on the TikTok ban? How his views have changed

Only a few days remain until a possible TikTok ban, scheduled for Sunday, would affect over 170 million American users of the app. Donald Trump, who will become the next US president on Monday, wants to keep the social media giant running.

“TikTok itself is a fantastic platform,” Trump’s new national security adviser Mike Waltz told Fox News on Wednesday. “We will find a way to preserve it but at the same time protect people’s data.”

“Trump could prove to be a hero in all of this,” said Jennifer Grygiel, an associate professor of communications at Syracuse University who studies social media.

However, the president-elect’s view of the social media app has changed since his last term in office. Here’s what you should know.

What’s going on with TikTok?

TikTok and its China-based parent company ByteDance are trying to block a law signed by President Joe Biden that would ban the short-video app starting Jan. 19 unless the company sells its U.S. operations on national security grounds.

The social media giant has asked the Supreme Court to suspend the ban pending trial, and although the justices heard arguments last week, a decision has yet to be announced. If the ban comes into effect on Sunday, Apple and Google will no longer be able to offer TikTok for download to new users.

However, the platform could go one step further and shut down the app entirely in the US. TikTok was reportedly preparing on Sunday in case a federal ban actually goes into effect.

TikTok update:TikTok reportedly plans to close the app in the US on Sunday if the ban continues. Here’s what you should know.

Trump’s history with TikTok

Trump said he had a “warm place” for TikTok and vowed to “save” a platform on which his campaign generated “billions of views.” In December, he asked the Supreme Court to suspend enforcement of the law, saying voters had mandated him to protect their right to free speech.

The former president described the First Amendment’s impact as “sweeping and troubling,” USA TODAY previously reported. He also warned against setting a “dangerous global precedent” for state censorship, while acknowledging the “significant and urgent” national security concerns raised by TikTok and ByteDance.

Based on recent statements, Trump appears to be a supporter of TikTok, but that wasn’t always the case.

During his first term as president, he tried to ban the app. In an executive order issued in August 2020, Trump claimed the app collects large amounts of information about Americans and makes them vulnerable to the Chinese government.

“These risks are real,” the order states. “This data collection threatens to give the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information – potentially allowing China to track the locations of federal employees and contractors, create dossiers of personal information for blackmail purposes, and conduct corporate espionage.”

The order was later blocked by a federal judge and dropped by the Biden administration.

Years later, in March 2024, Trump then changed his position when he opposed the bill that would ban the app or force a sale.

“Honestly, there are a lot of people on TikTok who love it,” Trump said in an interview with CNBC at the time. “There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who go crazy without it. There are a lot of users, a lot of good ones and a lot of bad ones on TikTok.”

USA TODAY has reached out to Trump representatives for comment.

Contributing: USA TODAY’s Karissa Waddick, Rebecca Morin, Greta Cross, Jessica Guynn, Erin Mansfield and Reuters

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a featured news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.

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