Donald Trump Said He’s Banning TikTok—Now People Are in Their Feelings
In case you haven’t already heard, Donald Trump said he may ban TikTok from operating in the United States amid national security concerns about American users’ personal data.
“As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, according to The Hill. “I have that authority….”
The president went on to say he could invoke the Emergency Economic Powers Act or an executive order as early as this weekend to officially ban TikTok, making it clear he does not support a potential deal for Microsoft to acquire the app from its Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance.
His statement comes after both he and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the government is “looking at” banning TikTok in the U.S. after the New York Times reported that India banned the app over privacy concerns earlier this summer.
But are national security concerns really the reason behind Trump’s sudden decision? Many social media users believe he’s using the TikTok ban to silence Sarah Cooper, the prolific comedian who rose to fame throughout quarantine by mocking Trump with his own words.
This didn’t stop Cooper from posting a video titled, “How to tick tack.”
“We’re looking at TikTok. We may be banning TikTok, we may be doing some other things, there are a couple of options,” she mouths along with Trump. “But a lot of things are happening, so we’ll see what happens. But we are looking at a lot of alternatives with respect to TikTok.”
In response to Donald Trump’s statement, the hashtag #tiktokban also quickly began trending on Twitter along with, of course, the birth of some hilarious memes. Check out some of the reactions below.
Over on TikTok, users shared videos reacting to Trump’s potential ban as well with some posting ways for Americans to sneakily override the app’s location option.
Early Saturday morning, August 1, TikTok’s U.S. general manager, Vanessa Pappas, shared a statement saying the platform isn’t planning on “going anywhere.”
“When it comes to safety and security, we’re building the safest app because we know it’s the right thing to do,” she said in the video posted to all of TikTok’s social media accounts. “We’re here for the long run. Continue to share your voice here and let’s stand for TikTok.”
Considering the app currently boasts over 800 million users and quickly inspired a new generation of short-form content creators, it seems very unlikely that the app is going anywhere. Besides, where else will we find videos of Cameron Diaz drinking wine out of someone else’s mouth?
Originally Appeared on Glamour
