Donald Trump has created a TikTok account. Earlier, he tried to ban the platform in the United States because of a threat to national security, Variety reports.
The politician's first video was about attending a UFC fight in Newark, New Jersey. Approximately 13 hours after the launch of Trump's TikTok account, it attracted more than 2 million subscribers.
As president, Donald Trump failed in his attempts to force ByteDance to sell a controlling stake in TikTok to American owners.
The launch of the politician's TikTok account came two days after a New York jury found him guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records, making him the first former US president to be convicted of a criminal offense.
A Trump campaign spokesperson said that the launch on TikTok “represents the continued outreach to a younger audience consuming pro-Trump and anti-Biden content.”
In March of this year, the American politician opposed the banning of TikTok because, in his opinion, such a move would benefit Meta.
“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” Trump wrote on his own social network Truth Social.
Former presidential adviser Steve Bannon reports that Trump changed his position because of billionaire Republican investor Jeff Yass, who reportedly owns a 15% stake in ByteDance.
In addition, his company was the largest institutional shareholder in the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that merged with Trump Media & Technology Group, the operator of the Truth Social platform.
Trump claims that they did not discuss TikTok during the meeting with Yass.