Trump once supported banning TikTok. Now he’s joined the app as he races Biden for young voters.

• Trump has joined TikTok – almost four years after he tried to ban the app in the US as president.

• “It’s an honor,” said the former president in his first video.

• Both Trump and Biden are looking to reach young voters through the popular video-sharing app.

As president, Donald Trump wanted to ban TikTok for its alleged links to the Chinese government.

But on Saturday, the former president became one of the platform’s latest users, expanding its online reach to young people before November.

By early Sunday afternoon, Trump had amassed 2.1 million followers and your first video — taken at an Ultimate Fighting Championship event in Newark last night — has racked up more than 2.5 million likes.

The video begins with comments from UFC president Dana White pointing out Trump: “The president is now on TikTok.”

Trump’s response: “It’s an honor.”

The Trump campaign was equally enthusiastic about the development.

“We will leave no front undefended and this represents continued outreach to a younger audience that consumes pro-Trump and anti-Biden content,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.

Trump’s new taste for TikTok comes almost four years later he signed an executive order this would have forced TikTok to sell to an American company. TikTok sued and the order was overturned in court.

President Joe Biden – whose re-election campaign also launched a TikTok account – likewise signed legislation in April, this could lead to a nationwide ban on TikTok if Chinese parent company ByteDance decides not to divest the app.

TikTok has about 170 million users in the United States, and both Biden and Trump are trying to reach their young audiences before November.

Although Biden easily won over 18-29 year old voters in the 2020 presidential election, issues such as inflation and Gaza hurt his campaign this year.

Read the original article at Business Insider