Trump says he does not support TikTok ban

Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, stated that he will support TikTok if ByteDance fails to successfully divest TikTok, according to various international media reports, on July 16 local time.

Previously, a US court ordered ByteDance to divest its US assets of TikTok by Jan. 19 next year, or else TikTok will face a ban.

Trump remarked that the market needs competition, noting that without TikTok, there will only be Facebook and Instagram. Last month, Trump launched a TikTok account and said he will never support a ban on TikTok.

Trump described TikTok as a security threat, although he acknowledged that some children found it difficult to leave the app in March of this year. During his presidency in 2020, Trump also attempted to ban TikTok and Tencent's WeChat but was blocked by the courts.