(TargetDailyNews.com) – Former President and current nominee Donald Trump has joined millions of Americans by signing up for TikTok, the controversial social media platform that has captured the undivided attention of America’s teens.
In the first year of his presidency, Trump signed an executive order to ban the platform because of its Chinese ownership, given concerns that China may be using it to spy on America and sow dissent. That order was blocked by the courts. This year the Biden administration signed a law banning the platform unless it is sold to a U.S. company by later this year.
Trump more recently condemned the move to ban TikTok, saying this would make social media giants like Facebook’s parent company even more powerful. Justifying his opening of a TikTok account, Trump said he would use “every tool available” to talk to American voters directly. For now, TikTok is where that’s at.
Trump was famously banned from the huge social media platform X (formerly Twitter) under the company’s former ownership. Current X owner, billionaire Elon Musk, lifted that ban in November of 2022. Since then, Trump has said little on X, sticking to his own platform, Truth Social.
Since opening the TikTok account, Trump gained 3.6 million followers, ten times as many as President Joe Biden. Yes, that’s right, the president who signed a law forcing the divestment of TikTok is using the platform too.
Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for Donald Trump’s campaign, said Trump sees this as another way to get “significant ground” with younger voters.
One researcher at the University of Applied Sciences at Hamburg thinks Trump gained so many followers so quickly because Americans might believe Trump will the be one to preserve the platform instead of banning it unless it is sold. Marcus Bosch explained that while TikTok will not make or break the presidential election, it is useful to quickly gauge the social and political mood in the country.
Trump’s first post on the platform consisted of a 13-second video clip of his recent attendance at a mixed martial arts fight, where he entered the arena to thousands of cheering fans. Trump attended a match there on Saturday, June 1st, after being escorted in by UFC president and conservative Dana White.
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