Opinion | Will the US really ban TikTok? Watch what Donald Trump is saying
- In an about-face, the former president is backing the popular video-sharing app he tried to ban in 2020
- He is clearly turning up the heat on Joe Biden and the Democrats, for whom young voter sentiment on the Gaza conflict has become a vexing issue

It appeared as if the entire US ecosystem was threatened by and working together to reject a digital pathogen. That said, the TikTok ban never came to fruition. The social media platform has only grown since then, becoming an integral part of American popular culture and influencing trends in music, fashion and entertainment.
But recently, it has had a huge political influence, which appears to have a lot to do with the resurgence of calls to ban TikTok. Pew Research Centre data shows that about a third of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 regularly get their news from TikTok, making the app an increasingly dominant source and online search engine for the youth.
During this US election year, more than 16 million voters could join the electorate for the first time. Studies reveal that the youngest voting cohort, around 54 million individuals aged 18 to 29, are casting their ballots for the first or second time. They are arguably more liberal, presumably a good thing for the current Democratic administration.