President-elect Trump reversed his 2020 stance on banning TikTok, telling supporters to “vote for Trump” if they want to “save TikTok in America.”
State of play:
Why we care. With 170 million U.S. users, TikTok’s fate hangs in balance as Trump’s election victory could impact the Biden-era law requiring ByteDance to divest from TikTok by January 2025. This means as brands – there could still be all those millions of people to target past 2025. As we are well into Q4, where plans for 2025 budget are being discussed – whether it’s wise to allocate budget to TikTok is unclear.
Between the lines. Trump’s softened stance follows lobbying efforts by ByteDance investor Jeff Yass, marking a significant shift from his previous calls for a complete ban.
What they’re saying. “It’s such a big issue… It affects 170 million Americans. It’s a core First Amendment question,” says Alan Rozenshtein, Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota Law School.