The White House has launched a TikTok account just weeks ahead of the deadline President Donald Trump extended, requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok to a non-Chinese entity or face a ban in the United States.
The @whitehouse account debuted Tuesday evening and quickly amassed over 80,000 followers by early Wednesday. Trump’s campaign previously utilized a TikTok account, which currently boasts over 15 million followers, leading up to the last presidential election. Trump’s team claimed last year that his TikTok presence was “the most successful launch in political history,” attributing it to his “secret sauce.”
“I am your voice,” Trump declares in the inaugural video posted on the White House account, featuring a montage of him and a caption that reads, “America we are BACK! What’s up TikTok?”
“The Trump administration is dedicated to communicating President Trump’s historic achievements for the American people to as many audiences as possible, across various platforms,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday. “President Trump’s message resonated strongly on TikTok during his presidential campaign, and we look forward to building upon that success and communicating in a way that no other administration has before.”
Federal employees are prohibited from using TikTok on work devices, with limited exceptions, according to a law passed during the Biden Administration.
Trump’s TikTok evolution
The Trump Administration has been attempting to broker a deal for the sale of TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, to a non-Chinese entity by Sept. 17. The app faced a potential ban in the U.S. after President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan law last year mandating ByteDance to divest its stake in the app due to national security concerns. TikTok has maintained that a U.S. ban would violate the First Amendment, although the Supreme Court has upheld the ban.
On the evening of Jan. 18, the app was temporarily removed from U.S. app stores, with users encountering a message stating: “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately that means you can’t use TikTok for now.”
However, the app was restored hours later after Trump announced that he had extended the deadline for ByteDance to sell. A message appeared on the app stating: “Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!” TikTok CEO, who attended Trump’s inauguration, thanked Trump for the extension in a video message.
The President has since extended the deadline several more times, although a sale before the current September deadline appears unlikely. Trump stated in June that a deal with “a group of very wealthy people” was nearing completion, pending approval from Beijing. Trump has also suggested that his tough stance on China may have complicated the sale.
Trump himself had previously identified TikTok as a national security threat during his first presidential term, leading to the ban on the app.
“The proliferation in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in [China] continues to pose a threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” reads an executive order signed by Trump in 2020. “The United States must take decisive action against the owners of TikTok to safeguard our national security.”
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