(WASHINGTON) — Rally highlights, White House glamour shots and his signature moves. President Donald Trump made a surprise return to the popular video app TikTok with three montages posted to a new official @whitehouse account Tuesday night.
“America we are BACK,” the first post was captioned. Trump pledged “I am your voice” as the video played.
The account isn’t Trump’s first foray with the Chinese-owned app. Both he and his 2024 rivals, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, signed up for TikTok in an effort to reach the 170 million users the company claims it has in the U.S. Trump last posted to his 15 million-plus followers from his former account @realdonaldtrump on Election Day. Candidates especially hoped to court young voters on the platform.
But TikTok has faced scrutiny from the U.S. government since Trump’s first administration. In August 2020, he released an executive order calling for “aggressive action” against TikTok to protect national security. One Republican-introduced bill that became law in 2022 banned most federal employees from downloading the app on government devices.
U.S. authorities have listed concerns about possibilities of stolen U.S. user data and a potentially manipulative and addictive algorithm.
Trump threatened to ban the app in his first term, but has thrice in his second term delayed the enforcement of a 2024 bipartisan law requiring TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, to sell it in the U.S. or be banned.
In anticipation of the initial ban deadline, TikTok briefly left app stores in the U.S. the day before Trump’s second inauguration and went dark for 14 hours. A pop-up message crediting him appeared when the app started working again, reading, “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!”
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was among many tech leaders who Trump invited to his inauguration.
The company offered various alternatives to divesting, including increased oversight and data protection. The latest pause on the ban is set to end on Sept. 17, though Trump repeatedly vowed to cut a deal for TikTok, even suggesting the sovereign wealth fund he created in February could be used to keep TikTok operating in the U.S.
Despite security concerns, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to ABC News that TikTok will be a powerful tool for the president.
“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,” Leavitt said. “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.”
Leavitt also appeared in a clip on the White House account.
The account racked up more than 140,000 followers by Wednesday afternoon, still catching up to Trump’s more than 10 million Truth Social followers and more than 108 million followers on his less frequently used X account.
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