(Credit: Muhammed Selim Korkutata/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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TikTok is still on the chopping block in the US, but the White House just joined the social network.
The @whitehouse account posted for the first time on Aug. 19 with a video of President Trump saying, “I am your voice,” with the caption, “America, we are BACK! What's up, TikTok?" At the time of publication, the account had 114,000 followers and had posted two more Trump edits.
The move doesn’t appear to connect to any extensions or announcements around the TikTok ban. Owing to national security concerns, the app was previously set to be banned in the country by Jan. 19, but Trump has delayed the law's enforcement several times. The latest extension, which itself is legally dubious, is set to expire on Sept. 17. To remain operational in the US, TikTok's owners, ByteDance, is supposed to sell its US business to non-Chinese owners.
Trump said in June that he had found a group of "very wealthy people" to buy the US portion of TikTok, but we haven't heard anything since.
The entire TikTok ban issue got underway during Trump's first term, when he signed an executive order requiring divestiture. When Joe Biden took office, he revoked Trump's executive order but later signed the ban into law as part of a larger funding bill.
Despite claiming he had national security concerns about TikTok five years ago, Trump warmed to the app after he joined during his 2024 campaign and quickly gained followers; he now has 15.1 million. A White House account might suggest that Trump intends to keep the service running for the foreseeable future, even if it's by endless extensions.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tells Reuters that, "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. 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."
Many of the comments on the White House account, however, are not particularly positive.