The White House has launched a TikTok account as President Donald Trump continues to permit the Chinese-owned platform to operate in the United States despite a law requiring its ban or sale.
“America, we are BACK! What’s up TikTok?” read a caption on the account’s first post on the popular video-sharing app, a 27-second clip.
As of 8 p.m. on Tuesday, shortly after launching, the account had garnered more than 20,000 followers.
This is the administration’s first official TikTok account. Both Trump and Biden launched accounts during the 2024 presidential campaign, drawing scrutiny as the leaders had previously raised national security concerns with the app.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly extended the deadline of a sale-or-ban law passed under former President Joe Biden’s administration, with the new deadline less than a month away on September 17.
In mid-June, Trump extended a deadline for the popular video-sharing app by another 90 days to find a non-Chinese buyer or be banned in the United States.
That extension is due to expire in mid-September.
While Trump had long supported a ban or divestment, he reversed his position and vowed to defend the platform, which boasts almost two billion global users, after coming to believe it helped him win young voters’ support in the November election.
Trump’s official account on X, formerly Twitter, has 108.5 million followers – though his favoured social media outlet is Truth Social, which he owns, where he has 10.6 million followers.
The official White House accounts on X and Instagram have 2.4 million and 9.3 million followers, respectively.
TikTok’s ultimate fate in the US remains unclear, but the official White House account is a signal that the app could be here to stay
