Trump joins TikTok despite seeking to ban app as president
Former president Donald Trump has joined social media platform TikTok and made his first post late Saturday night, a video featuring the Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO, Dana White, introducing Trump on the social media platform.
The move came despite that fact that as president Trump pushed to ban TikTok by executive order due to the app’s parent company being based in China. Trump said in March 2024 that he believed the app was a national security threat, but later reversed on supporting a ban.
The 13-second video was taken as Trump attended a UFC event on Saturday evening in Newark, New Jersey. In the video Trump says it is an “honor” to have joined the app as a Kid Rock song played in the background.
“The campaign is playing on all fields,” an adviser to Trump’s campaign told Politico. “Being able to do outreach on multiple platforms and outlets is important and this is just one of many ways we’re going to reach out to voters. TikTok skews towards a younger audience.”
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr joined the app last week, where he posted videos from the Manhattan courthouse where Trump was convicted on Thursday on all 34 counts for falsifying business records.
Joe Biden signed legislation into law in April 2024 that will ban the social media app from the US, giving TikTok’s parent company ByteDance 270 days to sell the app over concerns the app poses a national security risk. TikTok has sued to block the ban with oral arguments in the case scheduled for September. Biden’s campaign has continued using the app despite the legislation.
