The White House launched an official TikTok account on Tuesday, taking advantage of the short video app's more than 170 million U.S. users to spread the messages of President Donald Trump.
Trump has a soft spot for the popular app, crediting it with helping him gain support among young voters when he defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in the November 2024 presidential election.
Lawmakers in Washington worry, however, that its U.S. user data could fall into the hands of China's government. Trump has been working on a deal for U.S. investors to buy the app from TikTok's Chinese parent, ByteDance.
Past intelligence assessments have said the app's owners are beholden to the Chinese government and that it could be used to influence Americans.
The new account, @whitehouse, went live on Tuesday evening with an initial video showing footage of Trump as he declares: "I am your voice."
"America we are BACK! What's up TikTok?" the caption read.
The TikTok account Trump used for his presidential campaign last year, @realdonaldtrump, has more than 15 million followers. The Republican president also relies heavily on his Truth Social account to deliver his message and posts occasionally on his X account.
"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," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
"President Trump's message dominated TikTok during his presidential campaign, and we're excited to build upon those successes and communicate in a way no other administration has before," she said.
A 2024 law required TikTok to stop operating by January 19 of this year unless ByteDance had completed divesting the app's U.S. assets or demonstrated significant progress toward a sale.
Trump opted not to enforce the law after he began his second term as president on January 20. He first extended the deadline to early April, then to June 19 and then again to September 17.
Extensions to the deadline have drawn criticism from some lawmakers, who argue the Trump administration is flouting the law and ignoring national security concerns related to Chinese control over TikTok.
Source: Investing.com
U.S. economic growth will increase slightly next year but employment gains will remain sluggish and the Federal Reserve will slow any further rate cuts, economists polled by the National Association f...
U.S. President Donald Trump said fiscal revenue from his trade tariffs is set to "skyrocket" in the coming months as inventory levels among local importers run dry. Trump said in a Truth.Social post ...
U.S. factory activity slowed to a four-month low in November as higher prices because of tariffs on imports restrained demand, leading to a piling up of unsold goods that could hinder growth in the ov...
President Donald Trump's tariff increases on imports from foreign countries will reduce U.S. deficits by $3 trillion if they are maintained through 2035, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office e...
US job growth accelerated in September and the unemployment rate rose slightly, suggesting the labor market was showing signs of stabilization before the government shutdown. Nonfarm payrolls increas...
Oil prices moved steadily in Tuesday morning trading, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) holding near US$59 per barrel after rising more than 1% on Monday, while Brent closed above US$63 per barrel. Risk-on sentiment in global financial markets...
GBP/USD traded flat and hovered around the 1.3100 level at the start of the week, as trading momentum slowed. Market participants faced a very short week due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the US: US markets were closed on Thursday and only open...
Gold prices rose by around 1.7% to around US$4,134 per troy ounce as market participants became increasingly confident that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates at its December 9-10 meeting. Dovish comments from Fed Governor Christopher...
Asia-Pacific markets started the week with gains after New York Fed President John Williams signaled that a third interest rate cut is still...
U.S. President Donald Trump said fiscal revenue from his trade tariffs is set to "skyrocket" in the coming months as inventory levels among local...
Chinese President Xi Jinping pressed U.S. President Donald Trump on the status of the self-governing island of Taiwan and urged his counterpart to...
European shares ended higher on Monday, boosted by technology-focused stocks as risk sentiment improved on growing expectations of a U.S. interest...