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Former US President Donald Trump attended UFC 302 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on June 1, 2024.
CNN
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Former President Donald Trump has joined TikTok, a fast-growing social media platform with ties to China, after vehemently opposing it during his presidency and publicly supporting it.
In his first post on the social network, which attracts many young voters, Trump posted a video from after attending a UFC fight in Newark, New Jersey, that evening, featuring UFC CEO Dana White.
President Trump spoke directly to viewers, saying it was an “honor” to appear on the app, and his message was followed by a montage of cheering UFC fans.
“The president is now on TikTok,” White said at the beginning of the video.
Trump’s account, which has a verified badge, currently features just one post from it. Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., joined the platform in May. Taylor Budowicz, the PAC’s CEO, posted on X at the time: “MAGA INC will not cede any platform to Joe Biden or the Democrat Party who are trying to destroy our country. We will ensure that President Trump’s America First agenda is heard in every corner of the internet and in every constituency in this country.”
Joining TikTok underscores Trump’s recent policy shift on the platform, which is popular with 170 million people in the U.S. TikTok is smaller than rivals like Instagram and Facebook but is growing faster and trending toward a younger demographic.
During the Trump administration, Trump amplified concerns about TikTok’s ties to China as part of a broader anti-China policy. He placed TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, at the center of tensions between the U.S. and China, and tried unsuccessfully to ban the app from the U.S. by executive order.
President Joe Biden and most lawmakers have echoed Trump’s concerns. Biden has signed legislation that would force TikTok to either sell to another company or be banned outright. But Trump now opposes a nationwide TikTok ban, adding that such a policy would only alienate young Americans and benefit Meta.
Defenders of the app, including TikTok itself, say any national security risks associated with the app are merely hypothetical and that no public evidence has been presented to show that the Chinese government has accessed the personal data of TikTok’s U.S. users.
Trump’s TikTok debut, just days after his conviction in New York on Saturday, seemed to further solidify his transformation: As of Sunday morning, his TikTok account had more than 650,000 followers, and his debut video had been viewed more than 6 million times.
Meanwhile, the Biden campaign also uses TikTok and continues to post on the platform despite the Biden administration’s support for a nationwide TikTok ban.
TikTok has filed a lawsuit challenging a law signed by President Biden in April that bans the app if it can’t find a new owner. Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for September.
