Donald Trump's TikTok followers soar to 3 million in one day, a sign of Joe Biden's defeat?
US presidential candidate Donald Trump greets his supporters after the Republican presidential primary in February. (Photo: Reuters)
WASHINGTON DC, iNews.id - In just a day since joining TikTok, Donald Trump managed to attract 3 million followers on the platform. Some people may see this as irony, because the former US President tried to ban the short video social media platform several years ago.
Reuters reported that the decision to join TikTok on Saturday (1/6/2024) could help Trump, who is running for re-election in the 2024 US Presidential Election, to reach young voters. He is competing closely with the incumbent Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, ahead of the presidential election on November 5.
Biden's election campaign itself was already on TikTok, with more than 340,000 followers. In fact, Biden recently signed a law that would ban the application if the company that owns it in China, ByteDance, fails to divest it.
Trump uploaded the first video to his TikTok account, with the address @realdonaldtrump, on Saturday evening. The video has been viewed more than 56 million times. In the short video, Trump greets his fans at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight in Newark, New Jersey.
In his statement, Trump argued that he would use all available means to speak directly to the American people. For your information, in the United States there are 170 million TikTok users.
When he was still president in 2020, Trump tried to ban TikTok on the grounds that the platform posed a threat to US national security. However, Trump's efforts were rejected by the court.
In March, Trump still said TikTok was a national security threat. However, he also mentioned that banning social media would also harm some of the younger generation and only strengthen the dominance of Meta Platform's Facebook.
Trump is already active on social media with more than 87 million followers on X and more than 7 million followers on his own platform, Truth Social, where he posts almost daily.
Joe Biden Blocks, Donald Trump Suddenly Becomes a Famous TikToker
- TikTok faces the threat of being blocked in the United States (US), based on new regulations signed by President Joe Biden. In the midst of the ongoing process, former Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump suddenly appeared on TikTok.
Trump created an account on TikTok to attract young voters. It didn't take long for Trump's TikTok account to immediately gather more than 3 million followers.
The decision to join TikTok on Saturday (1/6) last week could help Trump target young voters in his third bid for the White House.
He will compete with Biden as the incumbent from the Democratic Party in the Presidential Election on November 5.
Previously, Biden had already created an account on TikTok, amassing more than 340,000 followers. Biden's steps were quite contradictory when he smoothed out the rules for blocking TikTok, which is used by more than 170 million US citizens
The rules signed by Biden force TikTok to choose between two difficult options given. First, Chinese parent ByteDance must divest TikTok. If you don't agree, TikTok will be blocked nationally.
Previously, TikTok was also prohibited from being used by government employees in the work environment for national security reasons.
Trump uploaded his first video on TikTok with the account @realdonaldtrump last weekend. The video immediately collected 56 million views.
The video shows Trump addressing supporters at an Ultimate Fight Championship fight in Newark, New Jersey.
"I will use various tools to interact with US citizens," Trump said in his statement, quoted by Reuters, Monday (3/6/2024).
Before the Biden administration's efforts to block TikTok, Trump was actually the one who started the movement. He tried to block TikTok in 2020 when he was still US President.
However, this effort did not pass in court. At that time, Trump said that the Chinese platform endangered national security. Apart from that, he said TikTok was dangerous for the younger generation.
Apart from TikTok, Trump is also present on other social media. He has more than 87 million followers on X and more than 7 million followers on Truth Social which is his social media.