The White House joins Tiktok amid national security concerns
The White House has launched a Tiktok account as President Donald Trump praises the app for attracting young voters in the 2024 presidential election.
WASHINGTON – The White House launched its official Tiktok account on August 19, using more than 170 million US users and over 170 million US users to spread the message of President Donald Trump.
Trump has a soft spot for popular apps and believes he helped him gain support among younger voters when he defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in the November 2024 presidential election. But Washington lawmakers worry that U.S. user data could fall into the hands of the Chinese government.
Trump has been working on a deal for US investors to purchase the app from Bytedance, Tiktok’s Chinese parent. According to past intelligence report ratings, the app owners are seen by the Chinese government and can be used to influence Americans.
The new account, @Whitehouse, was released in the first video showing footage of Trump, who declared “I’m your voice” on August 19th.
“America is back! What happened to Tiktok?” caption read.
Tiktok account Trump used in last year’s presidential campaign, @Realdonaldtrump, which he has over 15 million followers. The Republican president also relies heavily on his true social accounts to occasionally post his messages and posts on his X account.
“The Trump administration is committed to conveying the historic success that President Trump has brought to Americans with as many viewers and platforms as possible,” said White House press chief Karoline Leavitt.
“President Trump’s message controls Tiktok during the presidential election, and we are excited to build on those successes and communicate in ways other administrations have not had before,” she said.
The 2024 law required that Tiktok complete a sale of the app’s US assets or halt operations by January 19th of this year, unless it demonstrated significant advances in sales. Trump chose not to enforce the law after he began his second term as president on January 20th.
He first extended the deadline to early April, then to June 19th and again to September 17th.
The expansion to the deadline has attracted criticism from lawmakers who argued that the Trump administration has downplayed the law and ignored national security concerns related to China’s rule over Tiktok.
(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Rod Nickel and Edmund Kraman)
