Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump now has an account on the short-form video app that he as soon as tried to ban.
Trump’s TikTok account, which launched on Saturday night time, options only one publish as of publication time on Sunday morning. Within the video, UFC CEO Dana White declares, “The President is now on TikTok,” then Trump chimes in to say, “It’s my honor.” The remainder of the video consists largely of footage exhibiting Trump strolling among the many crowd at a UFC occasion in Newark, New Jersey.
The video has apparently been considered greater than 31 million occasions, whereas Trump has already amassed 1.7 million followers — greater than 5x the followers of the Biden-Harris account.
“Political candidate creates social media account” wouldn’t usually be massive information, however the Trump marketing campaign’s transfer is a reminder that whilst TikTok faces an unsure future in the US, politicians stay keen to succeed in its 170 million US customers. The platform may very well be notably useful for Trump, who seems to have made inroads amongst youthful, disengaged voters — the sort of voter who may be on TikTok.
Trump’s place on TikTok has seemingly reversed — after making an attempt to ban TikTok whereas he was president, he posted on Reality Social in Could, “Simply so everybody is aware of, particularly the younger individuals, Crooked Joe Biden is answerable for banning TikTok.” (Biden not too long ago signed a invoice that can ban TikTok if its dad or mum firm ByteDance fails to promote the app inside a yr; TikTok is preventing the invoice in court docket.)
Whereas Trump’s previous adviser Steve Bannon has accused the previous president of flip-flopping as a result of affect of billionaire Jeff Yass (who owns a serious stake in TikTok), Trump has insisted that banning TikTok would solely strengthen Fb, which he describes as an “enemy of the individuals.”
After all, becoming a member of TikTok and attracting over 1 million followers continues to be only a footnote in Trump’s massive week — one the place he turned the primary former US president to be convicted of felony crimes.
