Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has recently joined TikTok, quickly garnering a million followers.
This move comes despite his previous attempts to ban the platform during his presidency, citing national security concerns.
The former president’s entry into TikTok is seen as a strategy to connect with younger voters in his third run for the White House.
This is crucial as he competes closely with Joe Biden, the Democratic incumbent, in the upcoming November 5 presidential election.
Trump’s decision contrasts with his previous stance when he was in office and even now as he has expressed concerns about TikTok’s potential risks to national security.
His TikTok account, under the username @realdonaldtrump, was launched with a video of him at an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight in Newark, New Jersey.
The presence of Joe Biden’s campaign on TikTok, despite Biden’s support for legislation that could ban the app if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, does not sell it, highlights the complex dynamics of political engagement on social media.
The app, widely popular with 170 million Americans, is at the center of international scrutiny over privacy and data security.
ByteDance is currently contesting the law that mandates the sale of TikTok by next January to avoid a ban.
The administration argues that removing Chinese-based ownership of TikTok is essential for national security.
Meanwhile, TikTok maintains that it does not share U.S. user data with the Chinese government and has significantly enhanced user privacy protections.
Trump, who already boasts a strong social media presence with 87 million followers on X and over 7 million on his platform, Truth Social, faced legal hurdles in his previous attempts to ban TikTok.
In 2020, his efforts were thwarted by court rulings.
He remarked in March that while TikTok poses a national security threat, banning it could adversely affect young Americans and inadvertently benefit Meta Platforms’ Facebook, which he has frequently criticized.
The legal battle over the new legislation continues, with a U.S. appeals court recently accelerating the schedule for oral arguments set for September, following a joint request from TikTok, ByteDance, TikTok content creators, and the Justice Department for a swift review of the case.