Just as his rival Joe Biden did a few months ago, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has reversed his previous efforts to ban TikTok and has joined the popular short video app, widely used among young people in the United States and around the world. In an important development for the app, which has faced fierce criticism in Washington over its alleged ties to the Chinese government, the former president posted a video on his account @realDonaldTrump, showing him waving to the crowd during a UFC event held last Saturday evening in Newark, New Jersey.
In the first clip of the short video, which lasted no more than 13 seconds, UFC President Dana White appeared, announcing that Trump was now on TikTok. The Republican candidate responded by stating that it was "an honor for me." Trump concluded the video with a brief remark, saying, "Our journey has been very good... hasn't it?"
Interestingly, Trump's opening of his new account comes after he was the first to call for a ban on the app in the United States in 2020. He even issued an executive order demanding that the U.S. administration take strict actions against TikTok's owners to protect national security, but the U.S. courts halted it at the time, according to ABC News.
However, Trump later softened his stance toward TikTok. In March 2024, he opposed Congress's move to ban TikTok, arguing that this step would strengthen competing apps like Facebook and other platforms he also criticized. He believed that preventing the Chinese app would anger young people and could harm certain businesses.
It is noteworthy that the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill in April to ban TikTok if the Chinese company ByteDance, which owns the app, did not sell its stake within a year, a bill later signed by Biden. Despite this move, it remains unlikely that the app will disappear in the near future in the United States. Biden had also turned to TikTok in February, opening his first account to address young Americans, who seemingly prefer TikTok over other platforms. Now, it is Trump's campaign and the former president's account that have joined in.
The reason is the same: to attract young voters from both the Republican and Democratic parties to engage them in the upcoming presidential elections in November.
