The Trump administration opened an official White House TikTok account on Tuesday (Tuesday), suggesting the federal government may have softened its stance on the platform ahead of a September deadline for the sale of its US operations.
The account debuted with clips of US President Donald Trump addressing supporters and audio from his 2016 Republican National Convention speech.
In the first video uploaded to the White House’s TikTok account, Trump says: “Every day I wake up determined to deliver a better life for the people all across this nation. I am your voice.”
The account has so far attracted more than 60,500 followers. However, it still trails Trump’s personal campaign Tiktok account, which has accumulated over 15.1 million followers.
The move comes as TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, faces mounting pressure to divest its US operations or face an outright ban in the US. Trump has granted three extensions to the original January 19, 2025 ban, pushing the current deadline to September 17.
Most recently, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “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.”
“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.”
Karoline Leavitt, White House
Trump’s relationship with TikTok has shifted since his first term, when he signed executive orders attempting to force the platform’s sale or ban its operations. Ultimately, his move faced court challenges and never took effect. However, his efforts helped establish national security concerns that later prompted bipartisan congressional action.
During his 2024 campaign, Trump joined TikTok and credit the app with helping him connect with younger voters in his win over Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. Trump had said he has “a warm spot in [his] heart” for the app and that TikTok had an impact on his share of the youth vote during the recent election.
Last month, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick reiterated that TikTok’s US operations must transition from Chinese to American ownership.
Speaking on Fox News last month, Lutnick said: “The President really likes TikTok, and he said it over and over again, because, you know, it was a good way to communicate with young people.”
“But let’s face it, you can’t have the Chinese have an app on 100 million American phones, that is just not okay. So, it’s got to move to American ownership, it’s got to move to American technology, American algorithms,” he said.
In late June, Trump announced that he had identified buyers for TikTok’s US operations, describing them as “a group of very wealthy people” during an earlier Fox News interview. He suggested the deal would require approval from Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Bloomberg reported that Trump’s referenced buyers include the existing consortium of Oracle, Blackstone, and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Those negotiations had previously stalled after Beijing withheld approval following Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Chinese goods.
The Blackstone consortium had reportedly negotiated a deal that would give outside investors 50% of TikTok’s US business while reducing ByteDance’s stake to below 20%.
Oracle is expected to acquire a stake if a deal proceeds, according to an earlier Reuters report.
TikTok has over 170 million users in the US, according to recent data. In the first quarter of 2025, the company generated $43 billion in revenue, surpassing that of Meta, Reuters reported recently.
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