White House launches official TikTok account after Trump vowed ban in 2020

The White House launched an official TikTok account on Tuesday, as Donald Trump continues to permit the Chinese-owned platform to operate in the US despite a law requiring its sale.

“America we are BACK! What’s up TikTok?” read a caption on the account’s first post, a 27-second clip, on the popular video sharing app.

The account had about 4,500 followers an hour after posting the video. Trump’s personal account on TikTok meanwhile has 110.1 million followers, though his last post was on 5 November 2024 – election day.

Trump has a soft spot for the popular app, crediting it with helping him gain support among young voters when he defeated Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, in the November 2024 presidential election.

“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,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said as the account went live.

A federal law requiring TikTok’s sale or ban on national security grounds was due to take effect the day before Trump’s inauguration on 20 January.

But the Republican, whose 2024 election campaign relied heavily on social media and who has said he is fond of TikTok, put the ban on pause.

TikTok is a tremendously popular social media app with 170 million users in the US. ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, said in April that it had been in discussion with the US government regarding a solution for the app. It added that any agreement “will be subject to approval under Chinese law”.

In mid-June Trump for the third time extended the 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.

The idea of banning TikTok originated with Trump in 2020, who said the Chinese-owned app posed a danger to national security. It quickly became a bipartisan issue and Congress overwhelmingly voted to ban the app last year, which faced a legal challenge but was ultimately affirmed by the supreme court. The original deadline for the TikTok ban was on 19 January.

Trump switched his stance on TikTok after joining the app while campaigning for president last year, amassing nearly 15 million followers and hosting the TikTok CEO, Shou Zi Chew, at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Chew also attended Trump’s inauguration.

While Trump had long supported a ban or divestment, he reversed his position and vowed to defend the platform – which boasts almost 2 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 favored 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.

Dara Kerr contributed reporting