TikTok: Former President Trump now has an account

When former US President Donald Trump, who was recently found guilty on a total of 34 charges, was still in office, he wanted to ban TikTok with all his might. But apparently he has now changed his mind. At the weekend, Trump set up his own account on the once so fiercely opposed short video portal.

Trump with millions of followers on TikTok

And the demand seems to be high. After all, the controversial billionaire already has millions of followers. The platform, which he has always criticized, has thus developed into a helpful vehicle that has driven his following into the millions just a few hours after launching his account. However, it is not surprising that Trump is throwing previously established principles overboard without further ado.

Furthermore, it is questionable whether it was really him or rather his campaign team behind the idea of a TikTok account. After all, the incumbent and rival in the election campaign, Joe Biden, also has an account on the social network. Accordingly, Donald Trump’s ranks emphasized that they would not let Biden tap the votes on an entire platform without a reaction.

In a pure comparison of user numbers, TikTok is still behind the big players on Meta – Facebook and Instagram. However, the audience on the network is significantly younger and therefore more valuable for the election campaign. TikTok also has immense growth potential. CNN lists these two factors in its own report on the topic.

Fake news on the Trump account

TikTok is a controversial social network. This is not only because the company is accused of carrying out espionage abroad on behalf of the Chinese government. There are also fears that the portal offers content that could manipulate an election. It is not without reason that the EU is currently seeking stricter rules or even a ban on the network.

Behind the manipulative character are videos with questionable content. The magic word here is “fake news”. Donald Trump has mastered this discipline like no other and is therefore already spreading conspiracy theories on his new account. In the very first video, he is referred to as “President”, which is intended to underline the narrative of alleged election fraud in 2020.

Given the millions that Trump has already managed to mobilize, the battle on TikTok seems to have already been decided. After all, the TikTok account of incumbent US President Biden has just 340,000 followers. He opened his account in February of this year and therefore had a huge head start.