The White House launched a TikTok account on Tuesday amid uncertainty concerning the app’s future, as one other deadline approaches for its dad or mum firm, Bytedance, to promote to a US purchaser or be banned within the United States.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly extended the deadline of a sale-or-ban law handed below former President Joe Biden’s administration, with the brand new deadline lower than a month away on September 17.
The newest delay in June saved the app accessible for its 170 million American customers, regardless of the laws that handed final yr with bipartisan help over considerations that TikTok’s Chinese possession poses a US nationwide safety danger. And it got here as each the United States and China sought leverage in tense commerce talks.
TikTok’s final destiny within the US stays unclear, however the official White House account is a sign the app might be right here to remain.
The first submit on the official White House TikTok account options video of Trump as he says, “Every day, I wake up determined to deliver a better life for the people all across this nation. I am your voice.” The submit’s caption reads, “America we are BACK! What’s up TikTok?”
As of 8 p.m. on Tuesday, shortly after launching, the account had garnered greater than 20,000 followers.
This is the administration’s first official TikTok account. Both Trump and Biden launched accounts through the 2024 presidential marketing campaign, drawing scrutiny because the leaders had beforehand raised nationwide safety considerations with the app.
TikTok doesn’t operate in China, however the Chinese authorities enjoys vital leverage over companies below its jurisdiction.
The US authorities has mentioned it’s anxious China may use its nationwide safety legal guidelines to entry the numerous quantity of private info that TikTok, like most social media purposes, collects from its US customers.
The TikTok sale-or-ban law went into impact on January 19 after Biden signed it final yr. TikTok briefly took itself offline, sparking outcry from creators, however shortly got here again after Trump signed an order delaying the ban’s enforcement by 75 days in a single of the primary acts of his second time period. The president’s June delay marked his third extension of the ban.