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The Supreme Court upheld the federal law requiring ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to sell the social media app to a company outside of China or face a ban of the app in the U.S. (AP)
President-elect Donald Trump did not post on X about buying TikTok. The post is fake.
On Jan. 17, the Supreme Court upheld the federal law requiring TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the social media app or face a ban of the app in the U.S. starting Jan. 19, one day before Trump’s inauguration.
Legal and government ethics experts told PolitiFact that if Trump had decided to personally buy TikTok, it likely would not have violated federal law.
As millions of Americans await TikTok’s fate, which is set to be banned in the U.S. on Jan. 19, some social media users claimed President-elect Donald Trump has found a way to save the social media platform.
A Jan. 14 TikTok video showed a screenshot of a supposed X post from Trump that said the incoming president had bought TikTok.
"Big announcement: I will be purchasing TikTok on January 14th for $2.7 Billion. Incredible platform, tremendous potential. Under my leadership, it will be bigger and better than ever before! Stay tuned," read Trump’s supposed X post, which showed a publication time of 8 p.m. Jan. 14.
(Screenshot from TikTok)
The TikTok video had been viewed 2.7 million times as of Jan. 17.
Users on X and Instagram also shared this supposed announcement from Trump.
But Trump isn’t buying TikTok. The X post is fake.
PolitiFact searched Trump’s X account and found no post about buying TikTok. We also contacted Trump’s team, but did not receive a response before publication.
Several people have expressed interest in buying TikTok, including billionaire businessman Frank McCourt, former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, also known as MrBeast.
Some people have also floated billionaire Elon Musk, who owns the social media platform X, as another potential buyer, although Musk has not publicly announced intentions of buying TikTok. Musk has been a vocal Trump supporter, and Trump tapped Musk to co-lead with Vivek Ramaswamy the Department of Government Efficiency, an advisory group charged with cutting government spending.
Still, we wondered about what would happen if Trump did make such an announcement about buying TikTok.
Legal and government ethics experts told PolitiFact that if Trump had decided to personally buy TikTok, it likely would not have violated federal law. That’s because the president is exempt from federal conflict of interest laws that require other government officials to divest from financial interests.
"The idea at the time, some 50 years ago, was that the president does so many things that any asset could be considered a conflict," said Jordan Libowitz, vice president of communications at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a government ethics watchdog nonprofit.
Although not required to do so, presidents have typically divested from financial interests or put them into a blind trust before assuming office, said Jessica Tillipman, associate dean for government procurement law studies at George Washington University.
But Trump broke that status quo. During his first term, Trump raised government ethics concerns because he didn’t divest from his hotels and golf clubs. Since then, his business ventures have grown to include the social media platform Truth Social, cryptocurrency and new real estate projects abroad — presenting more opportunities for conflicts of interest.
"We’re used to presidents going out of their way to separate themselves from their assets so that the American people never doubted whose interest they were acting in, but that was always done because it was the right thing to do, not because it was legally required," Libowitz said.
On Jan. 17, the Supreme Court upheld the federal law requiring TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the social media app or face a ban of the app in the U.S. starting Jan. 19, one day before Trump’s inauguration.
Nonetheless, this image showing Trump announcing on X that he will be "purchasing TikTok" is fabricated. We rate the claim that it is real False.
Email interview with Jessica Tillipman, associate dean for government procurement law studies at George Washington University, Jan. 17, 2025
Email interview with Jordan Libowitz, vice president of communications at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Jan. 17, 2025
President-elect Donald Trump’s X account, accessed Jan. 17, 2025
The Associated Press, "Who could buy TikTok? Only a few parties are serious about offering," Jan. 17, 2025
USA Today, "Who could buy TikTok before Sunday? What to know after Supreme Court upholds ban," Jan. 17, 2025
The New York Times, "An Illustrated Guide to Trump’s Conflict of Interest Risks," Jan. 17, 2025
The Washington Post, "Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban-or-sale law slated to start Sunday," Jan. 17, 2025
TikTok video, Jan. 14, 2025
X post, Jan. 15, 2025
Instagram post, Jan. 15, 2025
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