6 months ago
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Donald Trump’s super PAC has joined TikTok under the handle @MAGA despite right-wing calls for the app to be banned in the US.
MAGA Inc., a super PAC for the former president’s campaign, had already posted three videos by Wednesday afternoon. Two of the posts specifically target President Joe Biden, while the third takes aim at independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr.
“There’s millions of voters on TikTok, and @MAGA will deliver President Donald J. Trump’s pro-freedom, pro-America agenda every day with the facts and stories that matter,” Taylor Budowich, CEO of the PAC, said in a statement announcing its launch on the platform.
The move comes just weeks after US lawmakers passed a bill giving TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance one year to divest from the app or face being banned in the US — an issue that Mr Trump himself has flip-flopped on.
In March, the US House of Representatives approved a bill but it fell by the wayside in April, when the Senate passed a similar bill giving ByteDance a year to divest. Mr Biden signed that bill, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, into law on 24 April.
In response, TikTok filed a lawsuit against the US government this week, arguing the law is unconstitutional.
As president, Mr Trump had issued a similar executive order banning the app — but ByteDance successfully challenged it in court.
But, this year, Mr Trump came out against a TikTok ban, saying it would further empower Facebook and its parent company Meta.
“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” Mr Trump said in March, referring to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Several lawmakers with allegiance to Mr Trump have split from him on the issue by supporting the divestment-or-ban bill.
Representative Chip Roy, a far-right Republican and ally to Mr Trump, acknowledged in March the former president’s concerns about other social platforms but said the House needs to act anyway.
“It’s not weighing on my mind,” Mr Roy said. “He’re trying to be very careful about American-owned companies, and not have the power of government overstep, but to focus here on (the Chinese government) targeting our people.”
Steve Scalise, the second most powerful House Republican and another staunch ally to Mr Trump, called the bill an essential security measure.
“This is a critical national security issue,” Mr Scalise wrote on X in March. “The Senate must take this up and pass it.”
Representative Mike Gallagher, a supporter of Mr Trump and one of the GOP members who led the charge against TikTok earlier this year, also agreed the bill would ensure national security. However, he stepped down just weeks later, with NBC News reporting he felt frustrated with his own party.
The Independent has contacted Mr Trump’s campaign for comment.
