Donald Trump's at war with TikTok. Out of all the problems America's currently facing between the imminent need for systemic change to the coronavirus pandemic, the sitting president slammed the social media platform as he boarded Air Force One last night. He told reporters that he has plans to sign an executive order banning the social media platform in America. "As far as TikTok is concerned, we're banning them from the United States," Trump said. The executive order could be passed as early as today.
Despite this, the general manager of TikTok, Vanessa Pappas, has issued a statement and doesn't seem too concerned about the threat. "I want to say thank you to the millions of Americans who use TikTok everyday bringing their creativity and joy into our daily lives. We've heard your outpouring support and we want to say thank you. We're not planning on going anywhere," she said. "I also want to thank our 1,500 U.S. employees who work on this app every day and the additional 10,000 jobs that we're bringing into this country over the next three years."
Trump's announcement comes weeks after apparent users of TikTok and K-Pop fans reserved tickets to his Tulsa rally only to leave the seats empty. However, there's also been a much wider concern that TikTok has been collecting personal information of their users. TikTok has continuously denied that is the case.
"When it comes to security, we're building the safest app because we know it's the right thing to do," she said. "We appreciate the support. We're here for the long run."
