What’s Up TikTok? White House Joins TikTok After Donald Trump Threatened To Ban It In The US

The White House has launched an official TikTok account, even as the future of the platform in the United States remains uncertain. The move comes less than a month before a deadline requiring TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell its US operations or face a nationwide ban. The new account went live on Tuesday with a video montage of President Donald Trump. In the clip, the president is heard saying: “Every day I wake up determined to deliver a better life for the people all across this nation. I am your voice.” The post was captioned: “America we are BACK! What’s up TikTok?”

Within hours, the account gained thousands of followers. By 8 PM on launch day, it had over 20,000, according to CNN. A second post soon followed, featuring seasonal footage of the White House.

This is the first official White House account on the platform, though both Trump and former president Joe Biden had personal TikTok accounts during the 2024 election campaign. Trump’s personal account has more than 110 million followers, though his last post was on election day in November 2024.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the move reflected the administration’s communication strategy. “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,” she told Business Insider.

The timing of the launch is striking. A law requiring TikTok to be sold to a US buyer or banned was signed last year by then-president Biden, citing national security concerns over its Chinese ownership. Lawmakers feared Beijing could exploit TikTok’s data on US users or use the app for propaganda. TikTok has denied sharing data with the Chinese government.

The law came into effect on January 19, a day before Trump’s inauguration. TikTok briefly went offline in the US before returning after Trump ordered a delay. Since then, he has extended the deadline three times, most recently in June, pushing it back to September 17.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC last month that the administration’s position was clear. “We’ve made the decision. You can’t have Chinese control and have something on 100 million American phones,” he said, adding that a resolution from Beijing would be needed “very soon”.

Trump’s stance on TikTok has shifted dramatically in recent years. He was the first to call for a ban in 2020, but during the 2024 campaign, he embraced the platform, crediting it with helping him connect with young voters. He even hosted TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago estate and invited him to his inauguration earlier this year. TikTok remains one of the most popular apps in the country, boasting around 170 million American users and nearly two billion worldwide. Its fate now hangs on negotiations between ByteDance, Washington, and Beijing.