Years after failed ban attempt: Donald Trump is now also on TikTok
During his term as US President, Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok. He is now against it and is now also represented on the app.
(Image: Camilo Concha/Shutterstock.com)
Almost four months after the incumbent US president, his predecessor and challenger in the upcoming presidential election has now also registered on TikTok. Donald Trump uploaded his first video on Saturday and has already amassed more than three million followers. Just like Joe Biden, who is in favor of a law that could lead to a ban on the popular video app in the USA, the move also represents a U-turn for Trump. During his time in office, he still tried to enforce a ban on TikTok, but most recently he spoke out against it. Although the application from China is still a security risk, he recently argued that a ban would only benefit the Facebook group Meta.
Successful debut
To launch his account on TikTok, Trump's team posted a 13-second clip from a wrestling event in Newark, New Jersey. Among other things, it shows the 77-year-old entering the arena of the "Ultimate Fighting Championship 302" and waving to the crowd to the song "American Bad Ass" by Kid Rock. At the end, he says: "Pretty good entrance, right?" According to TikTok, the video has already been viewed well over 50 million times, meaning that Trump's debut on the platform has performed far better than that of Joe Biden's campaign team in terms of numbers alone. After four months, the incumbent US president's account has amassed just around a tenth of Donald Trump's followers.
Trump's TikTok account was opened just a few days after the historic guilty verdict against the ex-president. In New York, a jury found him guilty on all 34 counts of illegal campaign financing, and now he could even be sentenced to prison. Just two months ago, a law was passed in the USA to force TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the app. Otherwise it would be banned. The company is resisting this. Trump has changed his mind on this, probably also because he can reach many people, especially young people, on the app. An anonymous representative of TikTok told Politico that there is twice as much content supporting Trump as there is for Biden.
(mho)