Washington (TDI): President-elect Donald Trump indicated on Sunday that he favored allowing TikTok to continue operating in the United States for at least a little while, claiming he received billions of views on it during his presidential campaign.
Trump’s remarks before a crowd of conservative supporters in Phoenix, Arizona, were one of the strongest signals yet that he opposes a potential exit of TikTok from the US market, according to US media.
Trump told the AmericaFest crowd, organized by Turning Point, “We need to start thinking because we went on TikTok and received an incredible response with billions, billions of views.”
Trump held a meeting with TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi at the Mar-a-Lago resort on December 16, amid US government’s ongoing efforts to block the popular social media platform.
Earlier in the day, Trump said during a media conference that he is “taking a look at it” when asked if he would stop the ban on TikTok.
The US Supreme Court on December 18 agreed to review a request from TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to block a legislation that would require the sale of the app by January 19, or face a ban on national security grounds.
Also Read: TikTok To Face Legal Action After Death Of 10-Year-Old Girl in US
The US top court is set to hear arguments on January 10 regarding whether the law unconstitutionally limits freedom of speech, in breach of the First Amendment.
In April, President Joe Biden signed a law giving ByteDance 270 days to sell TikTok due to national security concerns.
Also Read: Australia to Ban Social Media for Children Under 16
If the company doesn’t comply, the law mandate the app store operators like Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their platforms.
