Fearing a political backlash from a TikTok ban, Donald Trump is putting the blame on President Biden for any restrictions that could come from the foreign aid package passed by the House of Representatives this weekend.
“Just so everyone knows, especially the young people: Crooked Joe Biden is responsible for banning TikTok. He’s the one encouraging its closure, and he’s doing so to help his friends on Facebook become richer, more dominant, and able to continue fighting, perhaps illegally, against the Republican Party. It’s called ELECTION INVESTMENT!’ the former president sounded off on Truth Social on Monday.
In 2020, Trump signed an executive order banning the platform within 45 days if it was not sold by ByteDance, but a court blocked the ban before it could take effect.
As part of a $95 billion package of aid to Israel and Ukraine, the House of Representatives passed a bill requiring China’s ByteDance to divest TikTok within a year or face a ban in the US.
The package was put to the vote as four separate bills, but is expected to be sent to the Senate as one piece of legislation for a single vote in the coming days.
Fearing a political backlash from a TikTok ban, Donald Trump is putting the blame on President Biden for any restrictions that could result from the foreign aid package passed by the House of Representatives this weekend.
“Just to be clear, especially the young people, Crooked Joe Biden is responsible for banning TikTok,” Trump said
Only 25 Republicans voted against the so-called “sidecar bill,” which included a few priorities, including legislation to restrict TikTok, seize frozen Russian assets and require Ukraine to return any U.S. military equipment not destroyed in the war .
“Young people, and many others, need to remember this on November 5, ELECTION DAY, when they vote! They must also remember, and more importantly, that he is destroying our country and IS A MAJOR THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!” Trump added.
Trump has been claiming for months that TikTok is “less dangerous” to the US than Facebook parent company Meta.
A TikTok spokesperson told DailyMail.com that the bill amounts to a “total ban” on TikTok, suggesting ByteDance has no desire to sell.
“It’s unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian aid to push through yet another prohibition bill that would trample the freedom of speech of 170 million Americans, destroy seven million businesses, and shut down a platform that contributes annually $24 billion will go into the US economy,” a TikTok spokesperson told DailyMail.com on Saturday.
A TikTok spokesperson told DailyMail.com that the bill amounts to a “total ban” on TikTok, suggesting ByteDance has no desire to sell
Young people, and many others, need to remember this on November 5, ELECTION DAY, when they go to vote! They must also, most importantly, remember that he is destroying our country and IS A MAJOR THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!
Opposition to the TikTok legislation has brought together a strange cross-section of Democrats and Republicans. On the right, opposition to it was led by Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
Across the aisle, “Squad” members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., also voted against the measure.
“I think it’s a terrible idea and it’s the hysteria that’s sweeping through both parties now.” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told DailyMail.com.
“In America, we don’t just tell people that you can’t have a business because we don’t like you. And 150 million people are using their First Amendment freedom to express themselves on TikTok, and you can’t just take that away from them.”
Fellow Kentucky Republican Massie agreed.
‘The so-called TikTok ban is a Trojan horse. The president will have the power to ban websites, not just apps,” he wrote on X.