Recently, former President Donald Trump joined the campaign of President Joe Biden on TikTok. Trump has vocally opposed the President Biden effort to ban TikTok operations in the United States and he is right. While the former president had previously attempted to ban the app when in office, he now recognizes both the policy and political folly of that stance. This switch turned the tables on a top-of-mind issue at a key moment in a tight election where every vote matters.
TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a global company with international owners, but based and headquartered in China. In just a few years, the app has become one of the world’s most popular social media platforms, with over two billion users worldwide and as many as 170 million U.S. users. The consumers who use TikTok love the product and are well aware of the controversy surrounding the company.
As a policy matter, TikTok has come a long way in addressing President Trump’s original concerns. In response to fears that American user data could be collected by China’s government, TikTok set up Project Texas and described it as “an unprecedented initiative dedicated to making every American on TikTok feel safe, with confidence that their data is secure and the platform is free from outside influence.” The company invested $1.5 billion in the project, establishing an independent business entity to control user data, moving all data to Oracle’s U.S. servers, and permitting third-party review of its data and content moderation practices.
While we should all be aware, concerned, and vigilant about the collection and use of American data by China, it is certainly questionable whether TikTok poses much of a threat in that regard. And as recent action by Congress demonstrates, the bigger threat comes from the wide availability of American user data from global data brokers. If China wants American user data, it can find an alternative.
As a political matter, opposing a ban on TikTok is a smart move by President Trump. Within days of joining the app last weekend, President Trump had attracted three million followers, far outpacing the 340,000 followers of the Biden campaign. But even more importantly, President Trump’s new position on TikTok could be the key which allows him to build support among young voters and Black voters, two important constituencies President Biden needs to secure this fall to stay in the White House. As we have witnessed from recent polls, Trump is gaining with these constituencies and his opposition to a ban could possibly help accelerate those gains.
These inroads are occurring because young and Black voters largely love the app and oppose a ban. ABC News reported on May 7, 2024, that “55% percent of 18- to 29-year-olds use TikTok, including 28% who do so often… [J]ust 39% of adults younger than 30 favor a ban” with young women being “especially skeptical: Two-thirds of women younger than 30 oppose a ban, compared with 52% of men in this age group.” And The Hill recently reported on a poll showing that “51% of Black voters oppose a ban of the platform and 55% view TikTok favorably.”
Given the tight margins in this election, where even a small shift in voters in a few key states could make the difference, the candidates’ position on this issue could represent the November surprise which throws the election to President Trump. Many pollsters believe that young voters in particular are going to be the tie breaker in swing states like Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Michigan.
President Trump has also correctly pointed out that the biggest beneficiary of a TikTok ban would be the social media giant, Meta, which owns Reels, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. The Reels app bears a close resemblance to TikTok and would likely be the receiver of former TikTok users who would seek out another short video app alternative platform. As he stated in a CNBC interview on March 11, 2024, “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.” Trump is spot on when he argues consolidation of power in Meta, essentially making it the primary platform for communication in the U.S., poses a bigger threat to the American people.
Opposing the ban on TikTok is good policy and good politics. President Trump got this one right and will likely be rewarded for it come November.
Peter Mihalick is former legislative director and counsel to former Reps. Barbara Comstock, Virginia Republican, and Rodney Blum, Iowa Republican
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