Trump Accuses Biden of Being Responsible for Potential TikTok Ban

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump claimed on Monday that President Joe Biden is advocating for a ban on TikTok and would be accountable if a ban is enforced, urging voters to pay attention.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation with a 360-58 vote on Saturday, giving TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance approximately nine months to divest its U.S. operations or face a ban.

The bill is now headed to the Senate, and if approved, Biden has stated he would sign it into law.

On his Truth Social platform on Monday, Trump stated that Biden will be “to blame for banning TikTok. He is the one driving the closure, aiming to benefit Facebook’s friends to become more affluent and dominant.”

Trump then encouraged younger voters, a significant demographic of the TikTok user base, to consider Biden’s stance on Election Day.

However, during his presidency in 2020, Trump himself attempted to ban TikTok and Chinese-owned WeChat due to national security concerns. His efforts were halted by the courts.

TikTok has maintained that it has not and will not share U.S. user data with the Chinese government, arguing that a ban would violate free speech rights under the First Amendment for its 170 million users in the U.S.

In an email sent to employees over the weekend, the company expressed that once Biden signs the legislation, they will pursue legal action in the courts. They vow to continue fighting, as they believe the legislation breaches the First Amendment.