Trump Considers Joining TikTok To Help Reach Young Voters
Donald Trump may follow the lead of President Joe Biden and join TikTok.
Unnamed sources told The Washington Post that there have been discussions within the Trump campaign about joining the app.
While Trump has not yet made a decision on it, several of his aides, advisers, and allies support the idea of him launching a TikTok account, such as Kellyanne Conway, according to the report.
They reportedly believe regularly posting on TikTok will help Trump reach more voters, especially younger ones and those critical of Biden's stance on the Israel-Gaza war and his signing of the TikTok sell-or-ban bill into law.
Conway and other supportive advisers reportedly told the GOP 2024 presidential candidate that he has more supporters than Biden on the video-sharing platform and that his memorable quips and moments would likely garner massive attention there.
According to the insiders, some in Trump's campaign have already started coming up with ideas for his potential first TikTok video, and one of the suggestions is a meme of the former president dancing on stage during a rally.
One source told the Post that advisers and aides who favor the move hope to promote the idea that "being pro-Trump had become a counterculture movement, and ... that it is the cool, edgy thing to be Trump-adjacent."
However, some in Trump's campaign are reportedly wary of the potential backlash from Republicans who have raised concerns that the video app could be used by the Chinese government to access sensitive user data or spread propaganda.
Even if Trump does end up joining TikTok, however, his team would likely run the account for him, with the ex-president preferring to use his own social media platform, Truth Social, according to the report.
Trump also has accounts on Facebook and Instagram. His account on X, formerly Twitter, where he has 87.2 million followers, was reinstated in 2022 by Elon Musk, but he has not been active there since he was banned in January 2021.
The only post on his X account since 2021 came in August last year when Trump's viral mug shot was uploaded there.
Back in 2020, Trump sought to ban TikTok, claiming it was a security threat because the Chinese Communist Party could use it to spy on U.S. user data. However, his attempts were ultimately blocked by the courts.
But Trump appeared to have since changed his mind on TikTok.
He recently expressed opposition to the bill stipulating that TikTok can continue to operate in the U.S. only if the app's Chinese parent ByteDance sells its stake in it by next year.
In April, Trump took to Truth Social to claim that Biden was "responsible for banning TikTok" and express concern over it potentially helping boost Facebook.
Just two days after Trump made the post, Biden signed into law the bill that gives ByteDance 270 days to sell TikTok or the app loses access to U.S. market.
TikTok CEO Shou Chew said the company plans to fight the legislation.
Despite signing the bill that could ban TikTok, Biden's campaign has continued to post on the platform.
Since launching its TikTok account in February, Biden's campaign has gained more than 300,000 followers and 3.9 million likes.
