On July 31st, Trump told reporters he will act soon to ban the Chinese-owned app TikTok from the United States. Trump claims to use an executive order to enforce the ban.
Trump and other officials have expressed national security concerns that come with the use of TikTok. They fear the threat of TikTok sharing user data with the Chinese government.
The Chinese government has the ability to access Chinese companies’ systems under laws in China. The White House has already raised concerns with other companies including Huawei.
The news has gone viral and has many TikTok users are reacting to the news. Moreover, they are using “memes” as their coping mechanism to deal with the pain. Famous TikTokers are using the chance to promote their other socials for fans to follow along with them.
News is spreading abt the ban through all the TikToker group chats rn. Everyone is going live encouraging fans to follow them elsewhere on social media pic.twitter.com/sBTPy5vczt
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) August 1, 2020
Toney Lopez, a famous TikToker, known for his dancing videos with 21.2 million followers expressed his heartache after hearing the news and sent the president an Instagram DM.
@tonylopez i dmd him let’s hope it works
Trump stated that he will ban the app if it does not find an American buyer by September 15. Microsoft has stepped in and is in talks to acquire TikTok from the parent company, ByteDance, for around $50 billion.
Breaking News: Microsoft is in talks to buy TikTok, the Chinese-owned video app, as President Trump said on Friday that he was considering taking steps that would effectively ban the app from the U.S. https://t.co/a8jg5DKDT0
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 31, 2020
A recent conspiracy theory claims that one of the reasons Trump wants to move forward with the ban is due to the lack of presence at Trump’s rally in Oklahoma in June. Many TikTokers coordinated to register for tickets to the event using fake names, emails, and phone numbers event but never attend. The TikTok went viral and the event had over one million people registered to attend but when the time of the event came, the location was only at approximately one third of its full capacity.
Do you think the ban will go through?
Let us know in the comments below!
