The White House has officially launched a TikTok account, the same social media platform that President Trump once sought to ban during his first term. Its inaugural post features a video montage of Trump at various events, set to a Kendrick Lamar track. The style of the video is a direct reference to a popular type of edit on the app that uses clips from the boxing movie Creed, starring Michael B. Jordan. In the TikTok, Trump is heard saying the line I am your voice, while the caption reads America we are BACK! What’s up TikTok?
The Trump administration credits TikTok with playing a significant role in his 2024 presidential election victory, particularly in winning over young voters. The campaign account he used amassed over 15 million followers. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that President Trump’s message dominated TikTok during his presidential campaign, and they are excited to build upon those successes and communicate in a way no other administration has before.
This embrace of the platform marks a dramatic reversal from the president’s previous stance. He had once vowed to ban the app in the United States, citing national security concerns over its Chinese ownership. He signed an executive order aimed at outlawing transactions between TikTok and its Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance. The order stated that TikTok’s data collection threatened to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal information, which could be used for tracking federal employees, blackmail, or corporate espionage.
After taking office earlier this year, President Trump quickly moved to pause the law that was designed to ban TikTok. His administration subsequently delayed the enforcement of the ban multiple times to provide ByteDance with more opportunity to sell its US operations. Trump has previously mentioned that a very wealthy group is prepared to purchase TikTok, though the administration has not publicly identified the potential buyers.