Trump’s pandering to TikTok is pathetic

Published January 16, 2025 2:45pm ET



President-elect Donald Trump will no doubt be tougher on the world stage than President Joe Biden ever dreamed of being, but that doesn’t mean his ego won’t still get in the way from time to time. His pandering to TikTok is one example.

TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, has until Sunday to sell TikTok in order for the app to remain in U.S. app stores, conditions set by bipartisan legislation passed last year. ByteDance is aligned with the Chinese Communist Party, and TikTok functions as Chinese spyware that circumvents app store protections. ByteDance has used the app to track the location of journalists, about which the people behind the app lied.

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