(WatchDogReport.org) – Former President Donald Trump’s decision to join TikTok, having criticized the Chinese-owned platform in the past, has already seen his follower count eclipse that of President Joe Biden. Commentators and journalists soon responded to the former president’s decision; leading Brexiteer and Reform party leader Nigel Farage, who is a firm supporter of Trump’s re-election campaign, said the news was “huge” and commented that Generation Z is “crying out for leadership.”
The presumptive presidential nominee posted his first video on TikTok on May 31 and had already amassed more than 4 million followers by June 3. Biden’s account, which was created four months earlier, had a measly 347,000 followers.
Trump, despite acknowledging the security risk posed by the platform, has now called it an “honor” to have an account on TikTok. The former president previously attempted to ban the platform through an executive order, saying that mobile applications developed and owned by Chinese companies were a national security threat. The action was blocked in court after TikTok launched a lawsuit.
The Federal Communications Commission and the FBI have both issued warnings about the potential for TikTok owner ByteDance to share user data with the Chinese government. This data, which includes biometric identifiers, locations, and browsing history, could pose a significant threat to national security. TikTok, however, has denied any data sharing and pledged not to do so if requested by Beijing.
As a clear sign of growing concerns, the House of Representatives passed a bill in March that could lead to a nationwide ban on TikTok. Biden, if elected, has confirmed that he would sign the bill into law. The Senate also passed the bill in April, setting a deadline for ByteDance to sell the platform within six months or face bans on U.S. app stores. ByteDance, however, has vowed to fight this decision, setting the stage for a potential legal battle.
Annie Wu, the former social media producer for Democratic Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman’s campaign, wrote in a social media post that she hoped Biden’s number of followers would not continue to be so bad in comparison to Trump’s. She added that though it would not affect “anything electoral,” the “massive ratio” would still be embarrassing for the president approaching the November election.
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