Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says he would be open to banning TikTok as president

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says that, as president, he would consider banning the TikTok video-sharing platform because of its ownership links to China.

“The amount of stuff going in with TikTok I do think represents a threat to our country, given China’s ownership of it,” Mr. DeSantis told CNBC’s “Last Call” on Monday.

Mr. DeSantis, who trails former President Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary, joins the chorus of policymakers who say TikTok poses a national security or privacy risk because its parent company, ByteDance, is China-based.

Montana became the first state to ban the app outright. In May, Mr. DeSantis signed a law that bans the app on state and school-issued devices. The federal government has banned it from official devices, and congressional lawmakers are pushing for a national ban.

Mr. DeSantis said current Capitol Hill bills appear to be “too heavy-handed” and pose privacy concerns, but he would consider a ban.

The governor said the U.S. needs to adjust its economic approach to China overall, perhaps through incentives that emphasize American manufacturing over cheaper Chinese alternatives.

“There’s a reason why stuff has been outsourced to China — because it can be done cheaper and people can make more money on that, I get that,” Mr. DeSantis said. “We’re in a predicament here, and if we continue going in this direction, on this current course, China is likely gonna overtake us in terms of economic strength.”

He said the U.S. is not getting a fair deal in China.

“The United States has been the No. 1 source of Chinese wealth, and what have they done with that wealth? They’ve built up their military,” Mr. DeSantis said. “They are the top threat to this country.”