White House launches official TikTok account: 'America we are BACK!'
Trump has a soft spot for the popular app, crediting it with helping him gain support among young voters when he defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in the November 2024 presidential election. Lawmakers in Washington worry, however, that its U.S. user data could fall into the hands of China's government.
Trump has been working on a deal for U.S. investors to buy the app from TikTok's Chinese parent, ByteDance. Past intelligence assessments have said the app's owners are beholden to the Chinese government and that it could be used to influence Americans.
The new account, @whitehouse, went live on Aug. 19 with an initial video showing footage of Trump as he declares: "I am your voice."
"America we are BACK! What's up TikTok?" the caption read.
The TikTok account Trump used for his presidential campaign last year, @realdonaldtrump, has more than 15 million followers. The Republican president also relies heavily on his Truth Social account to deliver his message and posts occasionally on his X account.
"The Trump administration is committed to communicating the historic successes President Trump has delivered to the American people with as many audiences and platforms as possible," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
"President Trump's message dominated TikTok during his presidential campaign, and we're excited to build upon those successes and communicate in a way no other administration has before," she said.
A 2024 law required TikTok to stop operating by Jan. 19 of this year unless ByteDance had completed divesting the app's U.S. assets or demonstrated significant progress toward a sale. Trump opted not to enforce the law after he began his second term as president on Jan. 20.
He first extended the deadline to early April, then to June 19, and then again to Sept. 17.
Extensions to the deadline have drawn criticism from some lawmakers, who argue the Trump administration is flouting the law and ignoring national security concerns related to Chinese control over TikTok.
(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Rod Nickel and Edmund Klamann)
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