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President Donald Trump criticized Meta’s Facebook platform during a Monday interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” prompting a national stir as Congress ponders a bill that would force TikTok’s Chinese parent company to sell its platform.
The bill was approved by the Energy and Commerce Committee in a 50-0 vote, and it will now move on to an expedited vote in the House at large, according to Reuters.
This comes amidst a years-long push for TikTok to be banned in the U.S., due to its Chinese roots. However, the app would only banned outright if the platform does not cut ties with ByteDance, its parent company.
During his interview on CNBC, Trump acknowledged that he had originally pushed for a total ban on TikTok in 2020, noting that it was a “national security risk” because of its Chinese-based ownership.
However, he tempered that acknowledgment with a new comment, slamming Facebook as an “enemy of the people” and pointing out that if TikTok is banned, it will now only “make Facebook bigger.”
He also said that there were many “young kids on TikTok who love it” and “a lot of users, and there’s, you know, a lot of good, and there’s a lot of bad with TikTok.”
The president highlighted the need to continue “protecting the American people’s privacy and data rights,” not just from TikTok but from other companies like Facebook, too.
He explained, “But when I look at it, I’m not looking to make Facebook double the size. And…if you ban TikTok, Facebook and others, but mostly Facebook, will be a big beneficiary…I think Facebook has been very bad for our country, especially when it comes to elections.”
Perhaps coincidentally, Just the News reported that Meta’s stock dropped by 4.5 percent on Monday after Trump’s interview on “Squawk Box” was aired.
Another interesting development took place on Tuesday, as well, when the free speech video streaming platform Rumble offered to purchase TikTok.
CEO Chris Pavlovski wrote to Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, stating that if ByteDance “divests its ownership in TikTok, Rumble is ready to join a consortium with other parties seeking to acquire and operate TikTok inside the United States.”
