(NewsInsights.org) – Presumptive Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump joined TikTok on June 1 during an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Title Event held in New Jersey. Little more than 24 hours later, the former president had garnered 3.4 million followers, outpacing Joe Biden’s campaign on the platform by a factor of ten.
Trump and his team posted his first video on Saturday evening. UFC CEO Dana White told viewers it was his honor to introduce his longtime friend to TikTok audiences as the video showed the former president walking into the title bout venue at the Prudential Center in Newark.
The Biden campaign joined the platform in February, although the president personally refrained from joining because of security concerns. To date, the campaign has only attracted just over 342,000 followers. Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s oldest son, joined TikTok some time ago to promote his father and has a following of more than half a million people. Additionally, the MAGA Inc. super PAC joined in May.
Notably, Biden signed a bill in April that would force ByteDance to divest its interests in TikTok or see the US ban the app. In August 2020, Trump issued an Executive Order banning TikTok and imposing economic sanctions on ByteDance. The courts struck down the order, but the Republican-led Congress garnered bipartisan support to pass the measure this year.
In March, Trump opposed the TikTok legislation, explaining that it would provide Meta platforms like Facebook and Instagram with extensive market advantages. Trump’s recent defense of TikTok seems to have worked to his advantage with younger people.
Citing a recent internal analysis, The New York Times found nearly twice as many pro-Trump posts on the platform as those for Biden. Supportive influencers on TikTok have played a key role in promoting Trump to younger audiences, allowing the presumptive nominee to “crush it,” as Republican campaign digital strategist Alex Bruesewitz said he would if he joined the platform.
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