Former president and convicted felon Donald Trump is now on TikTok.
If he heads into the 2024 election as the Republican candidate, that’s one thing he and Democrat competitor President Joe Biden will have in common: both have railed against TikTok’s presence in the U.S., citing national security concerns, and yet still maintain accounts on the app.
The Biden campaign launched its TikTok push in February, just two months before Biden signed a bill that’ll ban TikTok nationwide unless owner ByteDance divests it. (TikTok’s fighting that bill in court
.)As for Trump, he made his own failed attempt to ban TikTok via executive order in 2020, and now filmed his TikTok debut at the UFC‘s Makhachev vs. Poirier fight June 1.
“The president is now on TikTok,” UFC CEO Dana White says in the video’s first couple seconds.
“It’s my honor,” Trump responds.
@realdonaldtrump Launching my TikTok at @UFC ♬ original sound – President Donald J Trump
Since that video went live over the weekend, Trump’s account has racked up 4 million followers.
It appears that he, like Biden, hopes a TikTok account will help him reach Gen Z, who are more likely to vote than some older generations, but also more disillusioned with our political system. Trump’s outreach there is the only social media presence he has aside from his account on Truth Social, a site he majority owns that’s popular with right-wingers.
Trump hasn’t said anything on Truth Social about his sudden embrace of TikTok; instead he’s been posting about his recent conviction on 34 felony counts of falsified business records.
“RIGGED TRIAL—ELECTION INTERFERENCE!” he posted June 2, with a clip from Fox News.
Back in February, the Biden campaign said its approach to having an account on TikTok would involve “advanced safety precautions around our devices and incorporating a sophisticated security protocol to ensure security.”
The Trump campaign’s approach seems to be a little different: As CNN points out, when his super PAC Maga Inc. joined TikTok in May, its CEO Taylor Budowich tweeted, “MAGA INC will not cede any platform to Joe Biden and the Democrats who are trying to destroy our country. We will ensure President Trump’s America First agenda is brought to every corner of the internet and every precinct of this country.”
That account has 17,000 followers.
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