Donald Trump joins TikTok, racks up 22 million views in a matter of hours
Former President Donald Trump has joined TikTok — and he’s already getting HUUUGE.
Within a matter of hours, the presumptive Republican nominee, racked up more than 22 million views on his debut video, which he posted from the Ultimate Fighting Championship 302 in New Jersey.
He’s also got more than 1.1 million followers as of Sunday morning.
“The president is now on TikTok,” UFC President Dana White, bellowed in a 13-second clip.
“It’s my honor,” Trump, 77, replied during a mashup of him greeting fans.
That’s despite the fact that as president, Trump tried to ban the Chinese video sharing app in the US.
The app also faces a deadline to sell its US business or be banned, following a bipartisan bill that passed Congress in April.
As president, Trump signed an executive order to block the popular video-sharing site in 2020, but the courts quashed that action.
By March of this year, Trump had changed his tune. While contending that it could pose national security concerns, Trump argued that banning TikTok would empower Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
“Just so everyone knows, especially the young people, Crooked Joe Biden is responsible for banning TikTok,” Trump, wrote in an April Truth Social post.
“He is the one pushing it to close, and doing it to help his friends over at Facebook become richer and more dominant, and able to continue to fight, perhaps illegally, the Republican Party.”
During the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the Capitol, Trump was banished from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, now known as X. He has since been allowed on the platforms.
While in exile, Trump moved over to a platform of his own — Truth Social, where he has kept most of his social media activity.
GOP megadonor Jeff Yass had been personally lobbying Republicans in the House to derail efforts against TikTok, The Post previously reported.
Yass’ fund has a roughly $33 billion stake in ByteDance.
Critics have speculated that Yass may have influenced Trump’s reversal on TikTok.
President Biden, who signed a bipartisan divestment bill targeted at TikTok, previously launched a TikTok account and is keeping his campaign on the platform in an attempt to mobilize young voters.
Back in April, both chambers of Congress passed legislation to effectively compel TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to divest the video-sharing program within about nine months or face a ban in the US.
TikTok, which estimates its user base in the US is over 170 million, has vowed to fight that law tooth and nail.
Although TikTok is technically based out of Singapore and Los Angeles and says its user data is protected, Beijing-based ByteDance must answer to the Chinese Communist Party.
TikTok has a vast reservoir of biometric identifiers, browsing history information, location data, and more on millions of Americans, which it hoovers up as users navigate the platform.
Donald Trump Jr. began using TikTok last week, where he posted about El Salvador president Nayib Bukele’s inauguration.
Last Thursday, the 45th president became the first commander-in-chief in the 247-year history of the country to get voted a convicted felon by a jury on 34 counts over a hush-money case in Manhattan.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and vowed to appeal the ruling. His sentencing is slated for July 11 at 10 a.m., just days before the Republican National Convention is slated to commence.
