The White House has created an official TikTok account just weeks before the deadline that President Donald Trump extended for the Chinese-owned app to be sold to a non-Chinese buyer or face a ban in the U.S.
The account, @whitehouse, was launched Tuesday evening and gained more than 80,000 followers as of early Wednesday. Trump’s campaign used a TikTok account, @realdonaldtrump, which now has more than 15 million followers, before the presidential election last year. Trump’s aides said last year that his TikTok was “the most successful launch in political history” and credited it with being his “secret sauce.”
“I am your voice,” Trump declares in the first video posted to the White House account, featuring footage of him spliced together and a caption reading, “America we are BACK! What’s up TikTok?”
“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 told Reuters on Tuesday. “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.”
Federal employees are not allowed to download the app on work devices with limited exceptions, per a law passed during the Biden Administration.
Trump’s TikTok evolution
The Trump Administration has sought to negotiate a deal for the sale of TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, to a non-Chinese buyer before Sept. 17. The app was initially banned in the U.S. after President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan law last year requiring ByteDance to divest from the app over national security concerns. TikTok has argued that a U.S. ban violates the First Amendment, though the Supreme Court upheld the ban.
On the evening of Jan. 18, the app was removed from U.S. app stores and users were met with a message reading, “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately that means you can’t use TikTok for now.”
Hours later, the app was live again as Trump announced that he extended the deadline for ByteDance to sell. A message on the app read: “Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!” TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who attended Trump’s inauguration, praised Trump for the extension in a video message.
Read More: Why Trump Flipped on TikTok
The President has since extended the deadline several more times, although a sale before the current September deadline looks uncertain. Trump said in June that a deal with “a group of very wealthy people” was close, contingent on approval from Beijing. Trump has also acknowledged that his tariffs on China may have made a sale harder.
Trump himself had called TikTok a national security threat during his first presidential term, and the ban on the app was driven by a bipartisan push.
“The spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in [China] continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” an executive order signed by Trump in 2020 reads. “The United States must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security.”
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