What happens to TikTok under Trump?

One of the more interesting stories to watch as Trump prepares to reenter the Oval Office is the fate of TikTok in the United States.

In April, President Biden signed a law that would ban Chinese-owned TikTok unless the app were to be sold within nine months, with the possibility of a three-month extension to find a buyer. As it stands, TikTok’s deadline is January 19, 2025.

The reason for the ban, which received bipartisan support, is national security. US government officials are concerned that the Chinese government could access user data through the social video app, pointing to laws that allow the Chinese government to demand data from Chinese companies.

The US federal government isn’t the first group looking to limit or eliminate TikTok within its jurisdiction, either. India banned the app in 2020, the governments of the UK, Australia, Canada, the EU, France, New Zealand, and 30 US states have banned it from government devices, and the BBC advised staff to remove the app from their corporate phones, too.

Ironically, Biden wasn’t the first US president to attempt to ban TikTok. His predecessor (and successor), Donald Trump, attempted to ban TikTok on national-security concerns as well in August 2020, but he was ultimately overruled by a US judge that December.

You would think, given his prior attempt to ban the app, that Trump would gladly embrace this second opportunity to do so. However, Trump’s current stance on TikTok isn’t that straightforward.

In March, Trump flipped the script and spoke out against banning TikTok, posting on Truth Social, “If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business. I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!”

While Trump’s personal vendetta with Meta and Zuckerberg could have played a role in the reversal of his stance toward TikTok, another factor to watch is his connection to Republican mega-donor Jeff Yass.

Yass, a billionaire financier who founded Susquehanna International Group, has historically been an anti-Trump guy. In June 2023, he donated $10 million to the super PAC arm of Club for Growth, a pro-business, anti-tax organization that was looking for an alternative to Trump for the Republican nomination. Yass also donated $2.5 million directly to a state-level PAC supporting Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

However, in 2024, Yass’ political calculus began to change. In 2012, Susquehanna invested “a few million dollars” in ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, a stake that’s now worth an estimated $40 billion. That stake is now in jeopardy, and he would suffer a multibillion-dollar hit if a TikTok ban, or even forced divestment, were to materialize.

Biden’s TikTok ban happened to coincide with Trump retaking the Republican ticket, putting Yass and Trump on a collision course.

A week before Trump’s post about TikTok and Facebook, he met with Yass at a Club for Growth donor event in Florida, where Trump referred to Yass as “fantastic.” Trump later denied discussing TikTok with Yass, but Vanity Fair reported that Yass’ team had privately been lobbying Trump’s team to defend TikTok.

Had Biden been reelected or Harris won, a TikTok ban seemed all but inevitable, even as public support has faded for the ban. However, with Trump poised to return to the White House in January, TikTok might have a chance to stick around. Trump’s about-face, whether driven by his vendetta against Meta, his connection to Yass, or some combination of the two, has given the app some breathing room.