The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, now has an account on the short-form video app he once sought to ban.
As of Sunday morning, Trump’s TikTok account, launched on Saturday night, includes just a single post. The video features UFC CEO Dana White announcing, “The President is now on TikTok,” followed by Trump stating, “It’s my honor.” The remainder of the video showcases Trump interacting with the crowd at a UFC event in Newark, New Jersey.
The video has reportedly garnered over 31 million views, and Trump has already accumulated 1.7 million followers—exceeding the follower count of the Biden-Harris account by more than fivefold.
While “political candidate creates social media account” might not typically be headline-worthy, the Trump campaign’s move underscores that despite TikTok’s uncertain fate in the United States, politicians are keen to engage with its 170 million US users. The platform could be especially advantageous for Trump, who appears to have gained traction among younger, disengaged voters—potentially the kind of audience that frequents TikTok.
Trump’s stance on TikTok has evidently shifted. After attempting to ban TikTok during his presidency, he posted on Truth Social in May, stating, “Just so everyone knows, especially the young people, Crooked Joe Biden is responsible for banning TikTok.” (Biden recently signed a bill that mandates TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app within a year, or face a ban, prompting TikTok to contest the bill in court.)
Although Trump’s former adviser, Steve Bannon, has accused him of flip-flopping under the influence of billionaire Jeff Yass (who owns a significant stake in TikTok), Trump has maintained that banning TikTok would merely empower Facebook, which he labels an “enemy of the people.”
However, joining TikTok and amassing over 1 million followers is a mere footnote in Trump’s notable week—one where he became the first former US president to be convicted of felony crimes.
