AOC says TikTok thanks ‘President Trump’ for helping restore app is ‘a choice’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.) said Sunday in a series of Instagram story posts that TikTok referred to Donald Trump as “President Trump” while thanking him for helping it restore service in the United States was “a choice,” given that he is a private citizen and not yet president.

On Saturday, TikTok went dark after the Supreme Court upheld the app’s ban in the US, but it was back on Sunday. When users opened it, a message appeared thanking “President Trump” for his “efforts” to restore TikTok. Also the social media platform shared a separate statement on the matter, where it continued to refer to Trump as the President of the United States – even though he will not become the country’s head of state until Monday.

“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service,” the statement said. “We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will not face any sanctions in providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive.”

“It is a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship,” it added. “We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States.”

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On her Instagram story, Ocasio-Cortez claimed that TikTok is “signaling that it has agreed to cooperate privately with Donald Trump and the Trump administration” by naming him in its notification.

“And for all the concerns that people were saying that TikTok would be used as a propaganda tool by the Chinese, understand that they are using it as a propaganda tool for the right wing,” she added.

The New York legislator spoke further on this point in another postand said that every “mass social media platform in the United States has been taken over by the right wing.” Elon Musk, owner of X, formerly called Twitter; Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta; and Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok, are set to attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday.

Ocasio-Cortez then ended with a warning to her followers.

“We are on the threshold of an authoritarian administration,” she said. “This is what 21st century fascism is starting to look like.”

Related…