On Jan. 19th, 2025, the popular social media platform TikTok went dark. However, just 12 hours after the lights went out, a message welcomed users of the app with this message: “Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”
In conjunction with the slew of executive orders signed on Jan. 20th, Trump signed an order that delayed the enforcement of a TikTok ban by 75 days.
Why did Trump extend the deadline for TikTok’s ban or sellout when he originally signed the executive order that gave ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, 90 days to divest any assets used to support it? When President Trump signed that executive order in Aug. of 2020, he claimed ByteDance “might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.”
What has happened to change his mind?
Along with several other owners of big technology companies like Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, the CEO of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, attended Trump’s inauguration. This is certainly an era of corporations making their stake in the office of the President, but has TikTok snuck its way in?
This move by President Trump seems only like a quick grab for the votes of the 170 million active TikTok users in the United States. According to NBC’s exit polls, approximately 43% of citizens aged 18 to 29 voted for Trump in 2024.
To secure that 11% difference between Democrats and Republicans in the recent election, Trump has turned completely around on his position, letting TikTok stay in the United States for another 75 days. Five years ago, this would have been seen, according to him, as a threat to the security of the United States.
The beginning of the second iteration of the Trump presidency has been meant with several controversial moves, but this one might take the cake for being blatant a move to sway young voters.
