White House debuts first-ever official TikTok account amidst legal limbo

The White House has officially launched a TikTok account on Tuesday, August 20 in the midst of China-based app’s future uncertainty.

The account’s first post, a 27-second clip, was posted on an official account with a caption, “America we are BACK! What’s up TikTok?”

“Every day, I wake up determined to deliver a better life for the people all across this nation. I am your voice,” says the video featuring Trump.

After posting the video clip, the account got about 4500 followers in less than an hour. Till now, the account has garnered around 70K followers.

The video sharing app which is owned by parent company Bytedance, has been under fire in the USA over security concerns.

A federal law requiring TikTok’s sale or ban on national security grounds was about to take effect the day before Trump’s inauguration ceremony on January 20.

President Donald Trump has extended the deadline of a sale-or-ban law passed under former President Joe Biden administration. The recent delay came in mid-June for a popular app by another 90 days.

The Republican president has grown fond of this app as it helped him to gain more support among American young voters to defeat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential elections.

Now, the new deadline is approaching on September 17 for Bytedance to either sell or ban the app.

According to Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, commented on the 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.”

TikTok is a popular social media application with 170 million users in the US.