President-elect Donald Trump expressed that he has a “warm spot” in his “heart for TikTok” as the app’s Chinese parent company is facing a looming January deadline to either sell the app or face a potential ban in the United States.
During a press conference on Monday, Trump said that while podcasters like Joe Rogan, whom Trump’s youngest son Barron had “recommended,” had helped him reach the youth vote, TikTok also “had an impact” on the election.
Trump’s words come after President Joe Biden signed a $95 billion bill into law in April that included aid for Taiwan, Ukraine, and Israel, as well as a “provision” requiring ByteDance to sell the app or potentially be banned. ByteDance has a reported January 19 deadline.
“You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points,” Trump said. “And, there are those that say TikTok had something to do with that. Now, Joe Rogan did, and some of the other people that were recommended by my son Barron — he knew names.”
Trump added: “And, I did those interviews and it was actually sort of cute. But, we did them and that had an impact. But, TikTok had an impact, and so we’re taking a look at it.”
At the beginning of December, the U.S. Court of Appeals D.C. Circuit upheld that a law requiring ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to sell the app or face being banned did “not violate the First Amendment.”
The federal appeals court noted that “the U.S. government is seeking to limit” the Chinese government’s “ability to gather data on people” in the U.S.
CNN’s Kaitlin Collins reported that Trump was meeting with Shou Chew, the CEO of TikTok at Mar-a-Lago on Monday.
