Trump’s Cabinet picks deeply divided on TikTok ban

As Donald Trump assembles his White House staff and selects his Cabinet picks, an ideological divide has emerged around a hot-button topic: a ban on TikTok.

As President-elect Donald Trump assembles his White House staff and selects his Cabinet picks, an ideological divide has emerged around a hot-button topic: a ban on TikTok, the social media video app used by around half of the U.S. population.

That divide and a lack of clarity around the administration’s priorities and current positioning on a ban have thrown the fate of TikTok in the U.S. into question.

TikTok is defending itself in federal court over legislation President Joe Biden signed in April that would ban TikTok if it doesn’t sell itself to an American owner by the time Trump takes office. 

Further complicating matters for TikTok is the fact that Trump has reversed his public stance on the app as he has announced Cabinet picks with a wide array of views about it. 

In 2020, he tried to ban it outright with an executive order that was struck down in the courts. At the time, teen TikTok users claimed to have coordinated lower turnout at one of Trump’s rallies by reserving seats they had no intention to fill. This March, Trump acknowledged that he believes TikTok is a “national security threat” but said a ban would double business for Meta’s Facebook, which he calls the “enemy of the people.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/trumps-cabinet-picks-deeply-divided-tiktok-ban-rcna181042

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