White House is now on TikTok? How will Trump leverage the 150mn US users

The White House officially made an account on the social media platform TikTok on August 19. The Trump administration is all set to take advantage of the 150 million US users to spread the messages of the American president. Trump has always praised the app for how it helped him gain popularity among young voters when he defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in the November 2024 presidential election.

“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," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said as the site went live.

"President Trump’s message dominated TikTok during his presidential campaign, and we’re excited to build upon those successes and communicate in a way no other administration has before,” she said.

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Meanwhile, a White House official told Reuters that the account under the name @whitehouse, began operation on Tuesday evening, with the aim of communicating the president's policies.

This came after a wave of panic in June when Trump announced the app will be blocked in the US after June 19.

"The president has said he’s willing to (announce another extension) if it has to happen,” a government official familiar with Trump’s thinking told On The Money of The Post on Tuesday (June 3). The official further said that China is using TikTok as a “bargaining chip,” noting, “The Chinese just want to hold this up as leverage in the trade talks.”

"It’ll be protected. It’ll be very strongly protected. But if it needs an extension, I would be willing to give it an extension,” Trump had told NBC News while agreeing that he has a “little sweet spot” for TikTok in his heart.