Former President Donald Trump Joins TikTok Despite Prior Efforts to Ban the App

In a surprising move, former President Donald Trump has joined the video-sharing app TikTok despite previously trying to ban it while in office. Trump made his TikTok debut late Saturday night by posting a 13-second video from a UFC event in Newark, New Jersey. The short clip features UFC President Dana White introducing Trump and declaring, "The president is now on TikTok." Trump simply responded with, "It's my honor," as Kid Rock music played in the background. The video quickly went viral, racking up over 34 million views in just one day.

In fact, by Sunday evening, Trump had already amassed an impressive 3 million followers on the platform, as per CBS News. However, Trump's decision to join TikTok is rather unexpected given his past efforts to prohibit the app in the United States when he was president. In 2020, Trump issued executive orders aimed at banning TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, as per NPR. He claimed the app posed a national security risk, alleging the Chinese government could potentially access data on American users. Back then, federal courts blocked Trump's attempted TikTok ban.

More recently, though, as of March 2024, Trump seemed to soften his stance on TikTok a bit in an interview with CNBC. While still viewing TikTok as a security threat, he argued that an outright ban could just further empower Facebook, which Trump called the 'true enemy of the people.'

An adviser to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign explained the rationale for joining TikTok to Politico: "The campaign is playing on all fields. 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 just last week as well, posting videos outside the Manhattan courthouse where the former President was convicted on charges related to business fraud.

The move to TikTok comes as Trump's own social media venture, Truth Social, struggles financially. The company lost over $300 million in Q1 2024 alone, and its stock price dropped 5% after Trump's recent conviction. President Joe Biden also signed bipartisan legislation in April that would ban TikTok nationwide unless its Chinese owners sell their stakes within 270 days due to data privacy concerns. However, Biden's re-election campaign created its own TikTok account back in February, likely viewing it as a way to engage younger voters.

On the other hand, TikTok denies any Chinese government influence or access to U.S. user data. So, while Trump labeled TikTok a threat and pushed to prohibit it through executive action, he is now embracing the popular app as a campaign outreach tool aimed at youth. With over 2 million followers gained in under 24 hours, Trump appears to be tapping into TikTok's enormous popularity with Gen Z and millennials as he mounts another White House run.