Trump promises protection for TikTok, for which he has a ‘warm spot in my heart’
- Reference: 1746428292
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/05/05/trump_promises_protection_for_tiktok/
- Source link:
Speaking on NBC’s flagship Sunday morning political program Meet The Press, Trump was asked if he would extend the deadline for TikTok’s developer, ByteDance, to divest the app’s US operations to a local owner, as required under the [1]Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act that passed last year with support from Republican lawmakers who agreed with its thrust that TikTok endangers US citizens as their data can be accessed in China.
That law set a deadline of January 25th, 2025, for a divestment. The deadline passed without a sale and Trump chose not to enforce the law for a time on grounds that doing so would preclude a deal being done and deprive American TikTok users of a service they value.
TikTok fined €530M after EU user data ends up on servers in China [2]READ MORE
On Sunday Trump suggested he also doesn’t want to deprive himself of TikTok.
“I have a little sweet spot in my heart because, as you know, I won young people by 36 points,” Trump said, referring to the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. “No Republican ever won young people, and I won it by 36 points, and I focused on TikTok. So perhaps I shouldn’t say this, but I have a little warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” he added.
[3]
He went on to say that TikTok is “very interesting, but it’ll be protected. It’ll be very strongly protected. But if it needs an extension, I would be willing to give it an extension, might not need it.”
[4]
[5]
That’s because Trump said a deal to offload TikTok is close and may happen before the June 19 deadline.
“We actually have a deal,” he said. “We have a group of purchasers, very substantial people. They’re going to pay a lot of money. It’s a good thing for us.”
[6]
The President said the deal is also good for China.
“But because of the fact that I’ve essentially cut off China right now with the tariffs that are so high that they’re not going to be able to do much business with the United States. But if we make a deal with China I’m sure that’ll be a subject, and it’ll be a very easy subject to solve.”
DOGE ‘unbelievable at computers’
Other areas of tech policy touched on during the interview included the until-recently-Elon-Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which interviewer Kristen Welker pointed out fired and then re-hired aviation regulators and nuclear weapon safety experts before asking if DOGE “jeopardized the safety and security of Americans?”
Trump responded that DOGE $160 billion worth of fraud, waste and abuse – a figure that is disputed and said Musk did “an amazing job.”
“I think his people have done an incredible job. They’re brilliant people. They know the computer. I actually asked him, ‘What’s their big trait?’ He said: ‘They’re unbelievable at computers.’ In other words, you can’t fake them out.”
[7]
The President also said DOGE is “not finished yet” and that it remains possible to find $2 trillion in savings on government expenditure.
Trump also praised his trade policy, which he said is directly responsible for “Apple building $500 billion worth of plants.”
“They always built their plants in China. Now they’re building their plants over here,” he said. Apple has indeed made a $500 billion dollar investment in the US, but the manufacturing portion of that investment will be outsourced. Last week Apple CEO Tim Cook also [8]said most Apple products sold in the USA will be made in India and Vietnam
[9]Trump wants to fire quarter of NASA budget into black hole – and not in a good way
[10]Meta blames Trump tariffs for ballooning AI infra bills
[11]Ex-CISA chief decries cuts as Trump demands loyalty above all else
[12]Siri? Will tariffs hurt Apple? Tim Cook says brace for a $900M whack, for starters
Trump also praised “the biggest chip company in the world. You know, the chip company from Taiwan” for committing $500 billion to make in America. That’s a possible reference to TSMC, the world’s largest foundry operator, which in March [13]announced a plan to invest an additional $100 billion in the US, or perhaps to Nvidia’s [14]planned sales of $500 billion worth of servers made in America. Again, that work may be outsourced – possibly to Taiwanese firms Foxconn and Wistron.
Moving and movie tariffs
Trump was also asked about tariffs on imports, and said he intends they will likely be permanent to ensure manufacturers understand they must build facilities in the USA. He denied his policies, which have seen tariffs imposed, paused, and raised within days – followed by [15]strong hints of future reductions, is not creating uncertainty.
But later in the day he announced an entirely new tariff – on foreign films.
“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” he [16]wrote on Truth Social. “Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.”
At the time of writing, the White House, Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative had not issued a statement about the tariff and how it will be calculated. ®
Get our [17]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/24/us_senate_passes_tiktok_sale_act/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/02/tiktok_gdpr_fine/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aBiMPkJ5ZU5Lj5W_81RGIQAAAMk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aBiMPkJ5ZU5Lj5W_81RGIQAAAMk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aBiMPkJ5ZU5Lj5W_81RGIQAAAMk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aBiMPkJ5ZU5Lj5W_81RGIQAAAMk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aBiMPkJ5ZU5Lj5W_81RGIQAAAMk&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/02/apple_q2_2025/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/02/nasa_funding_slashed/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/02/meta_trump_tariffs_ai/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/30/excisa_boss_agency_cuts/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/02/apple_q2_2025/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/04/tsmc_trump_arizona_investment/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/15/nvidia_made_in_america/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/23/us_china_tariff_reduction_plan/
[16] https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114452117143235155
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Tiktok
"Maybe he has ADHD if that's even a real thing!"
Maybe you're not real either...
Or maybe you're just not at all medically trained, and have no idea what you're talking about.
Re: Tiktok
<....."....at least he is visibly shaking things up.".....>
Except that he is "visibly shaking things up" in extremely bad ways, which is not something to be pleased or approving about!
Re: Tiktok
> But what a dim witted, strange little man.
Upvote worthy, if only because it is a fresh way of describing the man.
> ADHD if that's even a real thing!
And then he puts his own foot in it.
Best to stick to one subject per comment, simpler to respond to.
So...
Trump is protecting one of his propaganda channels ?
The GOP* will be one of the worst things that has ever happened to America.
*Great Orange Pillock
Censorship on foreign produced movies
"The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Therefore, I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.”
So, there will be massive censorship on foreign movies.
Fighting China by becoming a bad, dysfunctional copy of China.
Re: Censorship on foreign produced movies
I bet he imagines customs stopping metal film canisters entering the country and charging 100% tariffs on them. Just wait till Netflix knocks on his door and explains to him how streaming is charged for.
Ignorant estate agent made president, result for everything is what you'd expect
Where the grass is grass is. There’s grass in the middle. The roses stay. Everything stays just the way it was, including the limestone paths and everything else. But we had the prime minister of India here and they had a lot of press, and the women were walking out with their shoes full of mud. So we can’t have that. The other thing — and you see what I’ve done to the Oval Office and that continues, 24-carat gold. It’s beautiful. And we have really gotten — because I know that people can be fresh and nasty, you know, but we’ve been getting rave reviews. It was not taken care of the way it should. Now, I have an advantage. I was a really good real estate developer so I know how to get things done. I know how to build it. You’ll see it in a minute when you look at the ballroom, which I built at Mar-a-Lago.
But the other thing, and the big thing, is going to be for 50 years they’ve wanted to build a ballroom at the White House. And they’ve tried, but the presidents were not real estate people. They had no clue. All you have to do is look at President Obama and look at his museum or library, whatever they call it, in Chicago. It’s a catastrophe. It’s way over-budget. Maybe it comes to an end. I don’t know what’s going on. But it’s a disaster because — and it’s not his fault. He’s not a real estate person. He doesn’t know how to build. I do really well. And what we’re going to do, you’re going to see the most beautiful ballroom in the world right now when you take a look.
[1]President Donald Trump interviewed by 'Meet the Press' moderator Kristen Welker
If he can make a deal with TikTok then TikTok is good, otherwise it's bad. That's about as far as it goes.
[1] https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/read-full-transcript-president-donald-trump-interviewed-meet-press-mod-rcna203514
"flubbed some tech investment figures"
s/lu/i/
Tiktok
I'm going stateside in a couple of weeks so holding back my criticism of Trump just in case. But what a dim witted, strange little man. His one warm spot is for a digital app that not only they suspect of being able to harvest intelligence, influence foreign politics but results in doom scrolling for a significant majority of users. I get why he is in office though at least he is visibly shaking things up. Maybe he has ADHD if that's even a real thing!