Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has created an account on TikTok, the short-form video platform owned by the Chinese tech company ByteDance. This move is notable because during his presidency, Trump attempted to ban the platform in the United States. His decision to join TikTok comes as the U.S. elections in November approach.
Politico reported that Donald Trump uploaded a video to his new TikTok account on Saturday night. The video features him greeting fans at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event in Newark, New Jersey.
The account, President Donald J. Trump, with the address @realdonaldtrump, had more than 450,000 followers by 0800 GMT.
ByteDance is challenging in courts a U.S. law that came into effect in April requiring it to sell TikTok by next January or face a ban. The White House says it wants to see Chinese-based ownership ended on national security grounds, but not a ban on TikTok.
TikTok has argued that it will not share U.S. user data with the Chinese government and that it has taken substantial measures to protect the privacy of its users.
Trump’s attempt to ban TikTok in 2020 when he was president was blocked by the courts. He said in March that the platform was a national security threat but also that a ban on it would hurt some young people and only strengthen Meta Platforms’ META.O Facebook, which he has strongly criticised.
President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign joined the app in February.
With Inputs From Reuters
