Donald Trump, former U.S. President and current Republican presidential candidate, has joined TikTok, a platform he previously sought to ban.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom

Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President, has launched an account on TikTok, the popular short video social media platform owned by China-based ByteDance. This move comes ahead of the U.S. elections in November, despite his previous attempts to ban the app during his presidency.

According to Politico, Trump posted a launch video on his TikTok account, @realdonaldtrump, on Saturday night. The video featured Trump greeting fans at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event in Newark, New Jersey. By 0800 GMT, the account had garnered over 450,000 followers.

ByteDance is currently challenging a U.S. law that mandates the company to sell TikTok by January next year or face a ban. The White House advocates for an end to Chinese-based ownership of the platform on national security grounds but does not support a complete ban on TikTok. The company has asserted that it will not share U.S. user data with the Chinese government and has implemented significant measures to safeguard user privacy.

Trump’s initial attempt to ban TikTok in 2020 was blocked by the courts. In March, he reiterated his view that the platform poses a national security threat but acknowledged that banning it could disadvantage young users and inadvertently benefit Meta Platforms’ Facebook, which he has frequently criticized.

In a parallel development, President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign joined TikTok in February.