Trump's TikTok ban reversal comes after meeting megadonor who has stake in TikTok
The popular platform "is about free speech and innovation," the donor has said
As Donald Trump reverses his position on potentially banning TikTok ahead of an expected House vote this week on legislation that could lead to it being blocked in the U.S., the former president has been rebuilding his relationship with a GOP megadonor who reportedly has a major financial stake in the popular social media platform.
Trump met with the donor, hedge fund manager Jeff Yass, earlier this month at a Club for Growth donor retreat in Palm Beach, Florida, on March 1.
The Club for Growth, a conservative political organization to which Yass has donated millions of dollars, has opposed anti-TikTok efforts.
The group's president last year wrote: "Giving the government the power to ban apps and pick and choose between competing apps is a huge restriction on phone freedom."
The former president, who had originally spearheaded efforts to ban TikTok during his time in the White House, reversed his stance last week, posting on his own social media platform that getting rid of TikTok would benefit Facebook and that he doesn't want that to happen, suggesting Facebook is a bigger problem for the country.
"I don't want Facebook ... doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!" he wrote.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for more information about what motivated Trump's changing view, and it's not yet known what he and Yass discussed in their March 1 meeting.
But speaking at the Club for Growth retreat, Trump said Yass, in addition to Club for Growth President David McIntosh, had called him to invite him to the event, according to a video clip from that night obtained by ABC News.
Yass, who did not respond to a request for comment on Monday, owns a significant stake in in TikTok's China-based parent company ByteDance, The Wall Street Journal reported last year.
"I've supported libertarian and free market principles my entire adult life," Yass told the Journal then. "TikTok is about free speech and innovation, the epitome of libertarian and free market ideals. The idea of banning TikTok is an anathema to everything I believe."
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-tiktok-ban-reversal-after-meeting-megadonor-stake/story?id=108013785