Former President Trump has joined TikTok, the controversial Chinese-owned social media platform that he previously tried to ban while in the White House.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, made his first TikTok post in a launch video posted to the verified account @realDonaldTrump on Saturday night, showing him waving to fans at an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight in Newark, New Jersey, that he had attended just hours earlier.
“The president is on TikTok right now,” UFC CEO and friend of Trump’s, Dana White, said in a video introducing the former president.
“It’s an honor,” Trump said in the video, with Kid Rock’s song “American Bad Ass” playing in the background.
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Former President Trump smiles at Dana White while attending the UFC 302 mixed martial arts event on Saturday, June 1, 2024, in Newark, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
The move appears to be an effort to connect with young voters who frequently use the app as Trump faces President Biden in a rematch in 2024. MAGA Inc., a major super PAC backing Trump, joined TikTok a few weeks ago. The site has about 170 million users in the United States.
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The New York Times and Pak reported, citing internal TikTok analysis, that the app has roughly twice as many pro-Trump posts as pro-Biden posts, creating an apparently friendly environment for the former president.
Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign I joined TikTok In February, the president signed legislation giving TikTok’s Chinese owners a year to sell the app or face a ban in the United States in April.
Donald Trump waves to the crowd at the UFC 302 event at the Prudential Center in Newark on June 1, 2024. (Jeff Botali/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Trump tried to ban the app from the US market in 2020, his final year as president, citing national security concerns, and his executive order was ultimately blocked in federal court.
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Trump changed his mind this year, voicing his opposition to a possible TikTok ban by President Biden.
Some of President Trump’s former top advisers, including Kellyanne Conway and David Urban, have spoken out in support of TikTok on Capitol Hill.
Nevertheless, many Republicans continue to criticize the popular app and urge its China-based parent company to divest.
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