White House Joins TikTok as Trump’s Deadline for Potential Ban Approaches
The White House officially launched its TikTok account on Tuesday, just weeks before President Donald Trump’s deadline for a potential ban on the Chinese-owned platform. The debut post featured a video of Trump declaring, “Every day, I wake up determined to deliver a better life for the people all across this nation. I am your voice,” with the caption: “America we are BACK! What’s up TikTok?” The account quickly drew over 67,000 followers within hours of its launch.
Congress passed bipartisan legislation in 2024 requiring TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest its U.S. operations or face a nationwide ban, citing national security risks tied to potential data sharing with Beijing. Trump, however, has issued multiple extensions of the enforcement deadline, most recently in June, pushing the cutoff to September 17. The platform, which counts around 170 million U.S. users, was briefly taken offline before Trump’s second inauguration in January, but was restored after he pledged to delay enforcement.
Trump has also suggested that a “group of very, very wealthy people” is preparing to buy TikTok’s U.S. operations, a deal that would require approval from the Chinese government. Without naming specific companies, Trump expressed confidence that President Xi Jinping would approve the transaction, framing the move as a solution to safeguard the app’s future in the U.S.
