By Raul Castillo
02 Jun 2024, 16:33 PM EDT
Former President Donald Trump created an account on the social network TikTok on Saturday night and in less than 24 hours he has already surpassed President Joe Biden’s campaign account in followers.
In the account launch video, the former president appears alongside Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White in a UFC title fight in New Jersey.
The video began with White telling the camera, “The president is now on TikTok,” and Trump continued by saying, “It’s an honor.” The 13-second video then shows Trump entering the Saturday night fight at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, and greeting fans and other audience members.
As of the publication of this note, the video has accumulated 40.7 million views. Likewise, Trump’s account has 2.5 million followers, more than six times the followers of the Biden-Harris HQ account, which was started in February.
Does Trump change his mind?
The creation of his TikTok account seems to evidence a change of mind by former President Trump regarding TikTok. During his presidency, Trump attempted to ban TikTok in an executive order that sought to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell its U.S. assets. It was later blocked.
However, Trump recently opposed efforts to ban TikTok this year.
Although this is Trump’s official account, he has several accounts of his fans on the social network. One of them is the super PAC, MAGA Inc., which joined TikTok last month under the name @MAGA. It has more than 17,000 followers and has racked up more than 176,000 likes since its launch, as of Sunday.
“MAGA INC will not cede any platform to Joe Biden and the Democrats who are trying to destroy our country,” MAGA Inc. CEO Taylor Budowich said last month of TikTok’s launch of the super PAC, according to The Hill. “We will ensure that President Trump’s America First agenda reaches every corner of the Internet and every congressional district in this country.”
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