Four years ago, President Donald J. Trump denounced TikTok, the Chinese-owned video sharing app, as a threat to America’s national security. This week, as Mr. Trump prepares to retake the White House, he called it a “unique medium for freedom of expression.”

四年前，时任总统唐纳德·特朗普谴责中国公司拥有的视频分享应用程序TikTok威胁美国的国家安全。本周，正准备重掌白宫的特朗普称TikTok为“言论自由的独特媒介”。

The comment was part of a brief he filed to the Supreme Court on Friday, asking the justices to pause a ban on TikTok set to take effect next month so that he could “negotiate a resolution” to save the platform.

这一评论出现在他上周五向最高法院提交的一份摘要中，该摘要请求大法官暂停将于下月生效的TikTok禁令，以便他能“协商解决”，以挽救该平台。

A law passed with wide bipartisan support and signed by President Biden in April calls for ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to sell the app to a non-Chinese company or face a ban in the United States because of its risk to national security and free speech. The justices are considering the company’s challenge to that law.

一项在两党广泛支持下通过、并由拜登总统于4月签署的法案要求TikTok的母公司字节跳动将该应用程序出售给一家非中国公司，否则将因对国家安全和言论自由构成风险而在美国面临禁令。大法官们正在考虑该公司对法案提出的质疑。

TikTok has said the law violates the First Amendment. It also says that its corporate parent is majority-owned by global investors.

TikTok称该法案违反了宪法第一修正案。该公司还表示，其母公司由全球投资者拥有多数股权。

The Biden administration and members of Congress argue that the platform’s Chinese ownership compromises U.S. security because of the vast amount of user tracking and data collection it performs, and because of the risk that Beijing could use the app to spread propaganda.

拜登政府和国会议员认为，该平台由中国人所拥有的事实会损害美国安全，因为该平台会进行大量的用户跟踪和数据收集，而且中国政府有可能利用该应用进行宣传。

That was Mr. Trump’s position, too, before he became a political star on TikTok, where he now has more than 14.7 million followers.

在成为TikTok上的政治明星之前，特朗普的立场也是如此，现在他在TikTok上拥有超过1470万粉丝。

Geoff Garin, a Democratic strategist, noted that Mr. Trump’s U-turn puts him at odds with many Republicans who remain worried about China’s ownership of the app.

民主党策略师杰夫·加林指出，特朗普的这一转变使他与许多共和党人产生了分歧，这些人仍然担心中国对该应用的所有权。

“It is hard to believe that Trump’s TikTok flip-flop is about anything much more than the influence of a billionaire donor and Trump’s reluctance to give up his access to his followers on the platform,” Mr. Garin said, referring to Jeff Yass, a Republican megadonor who owns a significant share of ByteDance. “As with nearly everything Trump does, his change of position is driven by self-interest, not principle or the national interest.”

加林称：“很难相信特朗普在TikTok上改变立场还能有什么别的原因，除了这两点：一位亿万富翁捐赠人的影响力，以及特朗普不愿放弃他在该平台上的追随者，”前一个指的是杰夫·亚斯，一位拥有字节跳动大量股份的共和党巨额捐赠人。“与特朗普所做的几乎所有事情一样，他的立场改变是受自身利益驱动，而不是原则或国家利益。”

Here’s a look at Mr. Trump’s evolution on TikTok:

以下是特朗普在TikTok问题上的态度演变：

In 2020 he said, “We’re banning them.”

2020年，他说：“我们要禁止他们。”

Initially, Mr. Trump’s animosity toward TikTok stemmed largely from his anger at China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

最初，特朗普对TikTok的敌意主要源于他对中国处理新冠病毒疫情方式的愤怒。

In July 2020 he told Bloomberg News in a television interview that his administration was considering a ban because “what happened with China with this virus, what they’ve done to this country and to the entire world is disgraceful.”

2020年7月，他在接受彭博新闻社电视采访时说，他的政府正在考虑实施禁令，因为“中国在这个病毒方面的情况，他们对这个国家和整个世界所做的事情是可耻的”。

Aboard Air Force One a few days later, he told reporters, “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States.”

几天后，他在空军一号上对记者说：“在TikTok这个事上，我们要禁止他们在美国运营。”

On Aug. 6 he effectively did just that, issuing an executive order directing ByteDance to divest its U.S. interests or face broad sanctions.

2020年8月6日，他实际上就这么做了，他发布一项行政命令，指示字节跳动剥离其在美国的利益，否则将面临广泛的制裁。

It warned that TikTok’s vast data collection “threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail and conduct corporate espionage.”

该行政命令警告称，TikTok的大量数据收集“有可能让中共获取美国人的个人和专有信息——有可能让中国跟踪联邦雇员和承包商的位置，建立个人信息档案进行勒索，并进行企业间谍活动”。

“The risks are real,” the order said.

“风险是真实存在的，”它写道。

The next month, Mr. Trump blessed a deal that involved two major American firms, Oracle and Walmart, taking significant stakes in TikTok. But that deal, which left murky how much ByteDance and Chinese staff would remain involved with the app, was shelved amid the transition to a new presidential administration.

第二个月，特朗普便批准了一项交易，其中甲骨文和沃尔玛两家大型美国公司本来将购买TikTok的大量股份。这项交易让字节跳动和中国员工将在多大程度上继续参与该应用的运营的问题变得扑朔迷离，但在向新一届政府过渡的过程中被搁置了。

Mr. Trump’s effort to ban TikTok was blocked by a federal judge, who ruled that he had exceeded his authority. President Biden then revoked Mr. Trump’s ban in 2021 as Congress considered new legislation.

一名联邦法官阻止了特朗普禁止TikTok的行动，并裁定他越权。拜登总统随后在2021年国会审议新立法时撤销了特朗普的禁令。

In 2024, he warned young people ‘will go crazy without it.’

2024年，特朗普警告说，年轻人“没有它就会发疯”。

Fast-forward to the 2024 presidential campaign.

快进到2024年的总统大选。

In March, Mr. Trump suddenly declared a change in his stance on TikTok, condemning a bipartisan majority in Congress for pushing a bill that effectively did what he had tried to do four years earlier: ban the app unless its Chinese owner sells it.

今年3月，特朗普突然宣布改变对TikTok的立场，谴责国会两党多数议员推动一项法案，该法案实际上要实现的是他四年前试图达到的目标：禁止该应用，除非其中国所有者将其出售。

That change of position came around the same time that Mr. Trump met with Mr. Yass.

这一立场转变大致就是在特朗普和亚斯的会面前后发生的。

Mr. Trump has said they did not discuss the company. But Mr. Yass helped found the trading firm Susquehanna International Group and one of the biggest supporters of the anti-tax lobbying group Club for Growth, which hired Kellyanne Conway, a former senior counselor to Mr. Trump, to lobby for TikTok in Washington.

特朗普说，他们没有讨论过这家公司。但亚斯帮助创建了交易公司苏斯克汉纳国际集团，也是反税收游说组织增长俱乐部的最大支持者之一，该组织聘请了特朗普的前高级顾问凯莉安·康维在华盛顿为TikTok进行游说。

Mr. Trump told CNBC in March that he still considered TikTok a national security threat, but that young people “will go crazy without it.” He also said moves against TikTok would benefit Facebook, which he called an “enemy of the people.”

特朗普今年3月告诉CNBC，他仍然认为TikTok是对国家安全的威胁，但年轻人“没有它就会发疯”。他还说，打击TikTok的行动将有利于Facebook，他称后者为“人民公敌”

Mr. Trump went on to use TikTok with great success during the campaign, and has said that it was a key vehicle for reaching young people this year. His youngest son, Barron, also encouraged him to lean into the platform to win over young voters, according to two sources familiar with their interactions, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

特朗普在竞选期间使用TikTok取得了巨大成功，并表示这是今年接触年轻人的一个重要工具。据熟悉他们互动的两位不愿透露姓名的消息人士称，他的小儿子巴伦也鼓励他利用这个平台争取年轻选民。

In September he posted a video on his social media site, Truth Social, and boasted that he was setting records on the app.

9月，他在自己的社交网站Truth Social上发布了一段视频，吹嘘自己在TikTok上创造了多项纪录。

“I’m now a big star on TikTok,” he said. “We’re not doing anything with TikTok but the other side’s going to close it up. So if you like TikTok, go out and vote for Trump. If you don’t care about TikTok — and other things like safety, security and prosperity — then you can vote for a Marxist who’s going to destroy our country.”

“我现在是TikTok上的大明星，”他说。“我们不会对TikTok做任何事情，但我的对手会关闭它。所以，如果你喜欢TikTok，就去给特朗普投票吧。如果你不关心TikTok，也不关心安全、安保和繁荣等其他事情，那么你可以投票给一个会摧毁我们国家的马克思主义者。”

Eric Wilson, a Republican digital strategist and executive director of the Center for Campaign Innovation, a Washington-based think tank, said Mr. Trump had taken advantage of TikTok in a way that other Republican lawmakers had not.

共和党数字策略师、华盛顿智库竞选创新中心执行主任埃里克·威尔逊表示，特朗普利用TikTok的方式是其他共和党议员所没有的。

“If it sticks around, Republicans have to figure out how to campaign with it and reach voters,” Mr. Wilson said. “Donald Trump has certainly created a permission structure to do that.”

“如果它得以保留，共和党人就必须想出如何利用它开展竞选活动和触及选民。”威尔逊说。“唐纳德·特朗普肯定已经建立了这么做的许可机制。

This week, he said a ban sets a ‘dangerous’ precedent.

如今，他说禁令开创了一个“危险”的先例。

With Mr. Trump’s brief to the Supreme Court, his position on TikTok has come full circle, and he is now casting himself as the platform’s savior.

随着特朗普向最高法院提交摘要，他在TikTok问题上也走向了完全相反的立场，把自己塑造成了该平台的救世主。

“President Trump opposes banning TikTok in the United States at this juncture,” the brief said, “and seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office.”

“特朗普总统反对此时此刻在美国禁止TikTok，”这份摘要写道，“并寻求得到在上任后通过政治手段解决当前问题的能力。”

Mr. Trump met with executives of TikTok on Dec. 16 at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort, according to an official familiar with the matter. The meeting came on the same day the company asked the Supreme Court to temporarily block the law imposing the Jan. 19 deadline. Around the time of that meeting, TikTok officials told people in Mr. Trump’s orbit, and possibly the president-elect himself, that Mr. Trump should be the one to decide TikTok’s fate, according to two people with knowledge of the contacts between the two sides, who spoke on condition of anonymity. After the meeting, Mr. Trump told reporters he had a “warm spot” for TikTok and that he would look into the issue.

据一位熟悉此事的官员称，特朗普于12月16日在他的佛罗里达州庄园马阿拉歌会见了TikTok高管。当天，该公司要求最高法院暂时阻止规定1月19日为最后期限的法律。据两位了解双方接触情况的匿名人士称，在那次会面前后，TikTok高管告诉特朗普身边的人，也可能是告诉候任总统本人，应该由特朗普来决定TikTok的命运。之后，特朗普告诉记者，他对TikTok有“好感”，并表示他将研究这个问题。

The company did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

该公司没有立即回应置评请求。

Although Mr. Trump did not take a position on the legal arguments for and against the law in the brief filed on Friday, he called the First Amendment implications of banning TikTok “sweeping and troubling.”

尽管上周五提交的摘要没有在法律论证的层面上表达对该法的支持和反对，但特朗普称，禁止TikTok对第一修正案的影响是“全面而令人不安的”。

The brief also warned about setting a “dangerous global precedent” on government censorship “by exercising the extraordinary power to shut down an entire social-media platform based, in large part, on concerns about disfavored speech on that platform.”

这份摘要还警告称，“动用非常权力对一个社交媒体平台进行全面封禁，很大程度上只是因为对平台上不受欢迎言论的担忧”，这将在政府审查方面开创一个“危险的全球先例”。

Mr. Trump takes office on Jan. 20, a day after the law stipulates that TikTok will be banned in the United States unless it is sold. The Supreme Court will hear arguments at a special session on Jan. 10.

法律规定TikTok需在1月19日之前出售，否则将在美国被禁——也就是特朗普就职前一天。最高法院将在1月10日的特别庭期中听取本案的辩论。