Trump Joins TikTok And Calls It An 'Honor' — After Previously Trying To Ban The App
Years after moving to ban the app, Donald Trump has officially joined TikTok.
The former president launched his account on Saturday, sharing a video of his appearance at a UFC fight alongside UFC CEO Dana White in Newark, New Jersey, that same day.
“The president is now on TikTok,” White declared in the video’s opening.
“It’s my honor,” Trump replied before the 13-second clip pivots to a mashup of moments from his night out.
By Sunday afternoon, Trump’s TikTok debut video racked up over 51.2 million views, while his account soared to 2.7 million followers.
While Trump seemed pleased to be on a new platform, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential candidate moved to restrict the Chinese-owned video app through executive action during his time as president, citing security concerns.
But in March, he softened his stance, telling CNBC, “Without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people.”
A month later, President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill moving to ban TikTok if the app is not sold to a non-Chinese company within nine months.
Prior to Biden signing the bill and its subsequent passing, Trump tried to appeal to young voters by criticizing the president’s support for a potential ban.
“Just so everyone knows, especially the young people, Crooked Joe Biden is responsible for banning TikTok,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “He is the one pushing it to close, and doing it to help his friends over at Facebook become richer and more dominant, and able to continue to fight, perhaps illegally, the Republican Party.”
TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, sued to block the law last month, calling the legislation a violation of the company’s right to free speech.
