Former President Trump explained Monday why he's backed away from his effort to ban China-owned app TikTok as a bipartisan bill that could make the app unavailable in this country advances in the House.
In a new wide-ranging interview with CNBC, Trump warned TikTok was still a national security threat but argued it would be difficult to ban because of its massive popularity.
"Frankly, there are a lot of people on TikTok that love it. There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it. There are a lot of users. There’s a lot of good and there’s a lot of bad with TikTok," he told "Squawk Box."
As president, Trump issued an executive order banning TikTok, but it was challenged in court.
In the new interview, Trump argued that banning TikTok would only benefit Facebook, which he deemed an "enemy of the people."
"But the thing I don’t like is that without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people, along with a lot of the media," he responded.
Trump said he still believes the app is a national security threat and it's important to set up privacy and data protections for American consumers on all social media platforms.
"We also have that problem with… Facebook and lots of other companies too. They get the information, they get plenty of information, and they deal with China, and they’ll do whatever China wants," he warned.
Facebook has been blocked in China since 2009. Last year, parent company Meta made a preliminary deal to sell its virual-reality headset there.
"You know, if you look at some of our American companies, when you talk about highly sophisticated companies that you think are American, they are not so American. They deal in China and if China wants anything from them, they will give it. So that’s a national security risk also," Trump continued.
"But when I look at it, I’m not looking to make Facebook double the size. And if you ban TikTok, Facebook and others, but mostly Facebook, will be a big beneficiary. And I think Facebook has been very dishonest. I think Facebook has been very bad for our country, especially when it comes to elections," he added.
Trump denied changing his position on TikTok due to a recent meeting with billionaire TikTok investor Jeff Yass.
He said his brief meeting with Yass and his wife, Janine Coslett, at a recent event was centered on their advocacy for school choice. He claimed that the social media app was not part of the brief conversation.
"You know, we talked about education. It was a meeting that lasted for a few minutes. Now the only one I met was I met them both and I never I don’t think I ever met him before. But he never mentioned TikTok," he explained.
The bill advancing to a House vote this week would require TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance to fully divest all of its applications within 180 days or risk a ban on those apps. It would also establish a process for the executive branch to ban applications in the future if they are deemed a security risk.
Fox Business' Kristen Altus contributed to this report.
