In the battle with Facebook, Donald Trump wants to protect TikTok in the US

Is Donald Trump addicted to TikTok? He apparently changed his mind when he wanted to ban Chinese applications in the US during his tenure as the country's leader.

Facebook and zuckerschmuck (sic) will double the revenue if you remove tiktok. I don't want Facebook to do well because it rigged the last election. They are the real enemies of the people!”, wrote the Republican candidate for the White House on his own social network, Truth Social. The report takes direct aim at a proposal by a group of US elected officials who want to ban the Chinese social network from the country, fearing the risks of Chinese government interference and espionage.

In conflict with Facebook since 2021

If the American candidate prefers the Chinese network to the American company, it is because he has been in open conflict with Facebook and its creator Mark Zuckerberg for years. In January 2021, Meta's Facebook and Instagram accounts were suspended following the attack on the Capitol. The US company finally retrieved the former US president's profiles in January 2023 after a request from Donald Trump. “The public needs to hear what political figures have to say so they can make informed choices.”, announced Nick Clegg, Meta Group's Head of International Affairs. That doesn't stop the Republican candidate from continuing to tackle Mark Zuckerberg in his speeches, giving him the nickname “Zuckerschmuck,” which translates to “Zucker-asshole.”

If on the surface it appears that the former US president still harbors animosity towards the social network with its 2,989 users and its creators, the candidate may need it to take over the White House in November 2024. During his previous campaigns in 2016 and 2020, Donald Trump used Facebook as a central tool to influence the votes of American voters. The social network allowed his campaign team to organize fundraisers and raise large sums of money.