Former United States president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump urged Americans to vote for him in the upcoming elections if they want to "save TikTok".
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, Trump accused his Democratic opponent and incumbent Vice President Kamala Harrisof seeking to "close it up".
“For all of those that want to save TikTok in America, vote for Trump,” the Republicanpresidential nomineesaid in a video, speaking directly into the camera and flanked by two American flags.
He added, "The other side’s closing it up, but I’m now a big star on TikTok," continuing, "We're setting records".
Trump joined the popular social media app three months ago and has gathered 10.8 million followers.
However, nearly two months later, VPHarris shortly after launching her bid for the presidential candidate, joined the app and gained fivemillion followers.
“We’re not doing anything with TikTok, but the other side is going to close it up,” Trump said in his video. “So if you like TikTok, go out and vote for Trump. If you don’t care about TikTok — and other things like safety, security, and prosperity — then you can vote for a Marxist who’s going to destroy our country.”
Both presidential nominees understand the importance of TikTok for the young voters, who have been more active in this election than in the past.
Moreover, according to a recent USA Today/Suffolk University poll, young people moved a massive 24 percentage points between June and August, from favouring Trump over US President JoeBiden by 11 points to supporting Harris over Trump by 13 percentage points.
Neither Trumpnor Biden's campaign mentions that they favour a "TikTok ban", but the incumbent president's administration passed a bill that would compel the platform's China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell the video-sharing app or face a ban from US app stores.
Watch |US TikTok Ban: Creators oppose TikTok ban as short-video app fights for survival
Washington gave them a January 2025 deadline to sell, with the possibility of a 90-day extension.
Trump opposed such a ban at that time, althoughhe tried to enforce a similar ban via executive order during his tenure in the White House.
(With inputs from agencies)