The White House has established an official presence on TikTok, launching an account to leverage the platform’s extensive reach of over 170 million users in the United States.
The move is designed to disseminate the messages of President Donald Trump, who has credited the app with helping him secure support from young voters during his victory over Democrat Kamala Harris in the November 2024 presidential election.
The new account, @whitehouse, published its first video on Tuesday evening. The inaugural post featured footage of the president declaring, “I am your voice,” accompanied by a caption that read, “America we are BACK! What’s up TikTok?”
This official channel will operate alongside Trump’s highly followed personal campaign account, @realdonaldtrump, which boasts more than 15 million followers.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated the administration is committed to communicating the president’s historic successes to as many audiences as possible, noting that his message dominated the platform during the campaign and signalling an intent to build on that engagement.
This strategic expansion onto TikTok occurs against a backdrop of significant congressional concern regarding national security. Lawmakers continue to worry that the data of American users could be accessed by the Chinese government, given the app’s ownership by Beijing-based ByteDance.
Past intelligence assessments have suggested the company could be influenced by the Chinese government and potentially use the platform to shape American public opinion. Although a 2024 law mandated that TikTok cease operations in the U.S. by January 19 of this year unless ByteDance divested its American assets, President Trump has opted not to enforce this deadline since beginning his second term. He has granted a series of extensions, moving the deadline first to April, then to June, and most recently to September 17. These delays have drawn criticism from some legislators who argue the administration is disregarding both the law and pressing security concerns.
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cc: Reuters
