White House launches official TikTok account as Trump's deadline to ban app looms

4 days ago 10

Mike Pence connected TikTok's aboriginal successful U.S.

Mike Pence calls connected Trump medication to propulsion China connected TikTok merchantability oregon "shut it down" 02:23

The White House launched an official TikTok account connected Tuesday, little than a period earlier President Trump's deadline for the societal media app — owned by China-based ByteDance — to either find a caller proprietor oregon look a U.S.-wide ban. 

The relationship posted its archetypal video Tuesday afternoon: a 27-second montage of videos of Mr. Trump waking and speaking with supporters, overlaid with audio from his acceptance speech astatine the 2016 Republican National Convention.

"America we are BACK! What's up TikTok?" reads the caption to the video, which drew much than 90,000 views successful conscionable implicit an hour.

TikTok faces an uncertain aboriginal successful the United States amid worries astir nationalist security. Under a instrumentality signed by erstwhile President Joe Biden past year, ByteDance was required to either merchantability TikTok's U.S. operations by Jan. 19 oregon look a prohibition from app stores. But Mr. Trump has repeatedly extended that deadline, giving ByteDance much clip to find a buyer.

The most caller extension runs retired connected Sept. 17. It's unclear if Mr. Trump is readying connected extending the deadline again.

When the past hold was granted successful mid-June, White House property caput Karoline Leavitt said astatine the clip that the medication was "working to guarantee this woody is closed truthful that the American radical tin proceed to usage TikTok with the assurance that their information is harmless and secure."

CBS News has reached retired to the White House. 

Members of some parties person expressed concerns astir TikTok, arguing its Beijing-based genitor institution could beryllium forced to stock U.S. users' information with the Chinese government, oregon could manipulate the types of contented promoted by the app's almighty algorithm to beforehand China's overseas argumentation goals. TikTok has long denied that it's taxable to the Chinese government's whims, and has said American idiosyncratic information is stored connected U.S. servers.

Mr. Trump's views connected TikTok person shifted successful caller years. He tried to prohibition the app during his archetypal term, citing nationalist information risks, but reversed course during the 2024 statesmanlike race, arguing a prohibition connected TikTok would lone empower Facebook. Both Mr. Trump and his Democratic opponent, erstwhile Vice President Kamala Harris, had progressive run TikTok accounts past year.

Joe Walsh

Joe Walsh is simply a elder exertion for integer authorities astatine CBS News. Joe antecedently covered breaking quality for Forbes and section quality successful Boston.

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