'I got to use it': Donald Trump's evolution from TikTok foe to a fan

WASHINGTON ? President Donald Trump says he wants to "save TikTok." But during the final months of his first term as president in 2020, he tried to shut down the wildly popular social media video app.

It marks a dramatic evolution as Trump begins his second term. His previous administration raised concerns about TikTok sharing personal data with the Chinese government. But Trump is now shrugging off the same risks as he's getting hailed as TikTok's savior after seeing its benefits help him connect with young voters en route to winning back the White House.

"Because I got to use it," Trump told reporters Monday during a wide-ranging Oval Office media session when asked why he changed his mind about TikTok. "And remember, TikTok is largely about kids, young kids. If China is going to get information about young kids, I don't know. To be honest with you, I think we have bigger problems than that."

More: Donald Trump issues executive order to halt TikTok ban – but is it legal?

In one of his many Day 1 executive actions, Trump ordered his Department of Justice to delay enforcing a ban on TikTok for 75 days even though the law went into effect Sunday.

The postponement is designed to give the Trump administration "an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward in an orderly way" that protects national security interests while avoiding a TikTok shutdown, the order says.

TikTok has 170 million users in the United States. As he signed the order Monday night in the White House, Trump downplayed national security concerns and suggested U.S. ownership of half of TikTok. He warned he could impose new tariffs on China if Beijing does not agree to a deal for ByteDance, TikTok's China-based parent company, to sell assets to an American buyer.

"When you take a look at telephones that are made in China and all the other things that are made in China, military equipment made in China ? TikTok, I think TikTok is not our biggest problem," Trump said. "But there's big value in TikTok if it gets approved. If it doesn't get approved, there's no value. So if we create that value, why aren't we entitled to like half?"

More: Donald Trump sworn in as 47th president, declares 'America's decline is over'

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Trump's efforts to keep TikTok operating in the U.S. are a far cry from 4 ? years ago when Trump in August 2020 signed an executive order that sought to ban the app.

"TikTok automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users, including Internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories," Trump's 2020 order said. "This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information ? potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage."

Back then, TikTok slammed Trump for setting "a dangerous precedent for the concept of free expression and open markets." But a federal judge blocked the order, saying Trump overstepped his executive authority by bypassing Congress. That fall, Trump lost his 2020 reelection bid to Joe Biden.

Trump's assessment of TikTok started to become more positive after he met last year with billionaire Jeff Yass, a major conservative donor with financial ties to ByteDance.

During the 2024 presidential campaign, the Trump campaign used TikTok with success in its appeal to young voters. Trump has more than 15 million followers on TikTok.

His shift comes as Trump has strengthened ties with billionaire tech entrepreneurs including top adviser Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Apple CEO Tim Cook. Each was seated in prominent positions behind Trump during the 47th president's swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol Rotunda.

Also in attendance was Shou Zi Chew, TikTok CEO, who sat next to former Hawaii Democratic U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's nominee for director of national intelligence.

"On behalf of everyone at TikTok and all our users across the country, I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States," Chew said in a video last week.

The legality of Trump using executive authority to override a ban that was passed as a law by Congress remains unclear, however.

The sell-or-ban law, signed into law by Biden last April, required ByteDance to sell American TikTok assets by last Sunday for the app to keep operating in the United States.

The app briefly shut down over the weekend but resurfaced with TikTok praising Trump for providing "clarity and assurance" to service providers that they won't face penalties for making the platform available. In an earlier statement, TikTok blamed the Biden administration for forcing the company to "go dark."

'Every rich person has called me about TikTok'

In his new TikTok order, Trump said he intends to "consult with my advisors, including the heads of relevant departments and agencies on the national security concerns posed by TikTok, and to pursue a resolution that protects national security while saving a platform used by 170 million Americans."

Most Republicans have seemed to generally go along with Trump's TikTok evolution. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., a close Trump ally, however, has remained consistent with national security concerns.

"Any company that hosts, distributes, services, or otherwise facilitates communist-controlled TikTok could face hundreds of billions of dollars of ruinous liability under the law, not just from DOJ, but also under securities law, shareholder lawsuits, and state AGs. Think about it," Cotton, the new chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said last weekend after TikTok announced plans to restore operations because of Trump's assurances.

Cotton's comments, however, came before Trump was sworn in to office and signed the TikTok order. Meanwhile, Trump on Monday night after his second inauguration suggested there's no shortage of potential American buyers.

"Every rich person has called me about TikTok," Trump told reporters.

Contributing: Reuters.

Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'I got to use it': A look at Trump's evolution from TikTok foe to fan