Initially, Trump sought to prohibit TikTok in 2020, but his perspective shifted during his re-election campaign upon realizing the platform’s wide reach among his supporters. In 2024, the Trump campaign launched its official account, @TeamTrump, which swiftly gained traction, surpassing former Vice President Kamala Harris’s now-inactive campaign account in followers and viewership—2.8 billion to 2.2 billion, according to journalist Kyle Tharp. A Republican digital strategist closely affiliated with the campaign praised Trump, a former reality TV star, for his knack for creating captivating content capable of going viral. “TikTok is primarily an entertainment app,” he previously stated in The Verge, “and our use of it was noticeably more adept than [the Democrats].”

Despite ongoing legal concerns and questions about the intentions behind a potential TikTok ban, the Trump administration currently sees value in maintaining a presence on the platform. “Why would I want to get rid of TikTok?” Trump stated on Truth Social in January, commenting on the billions of views his campaign account continues to garner. Echoing this sentiment, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt emphasized this perspective following the launch of the government account. “President Trump’s message dominated TikTok during his presidential campaign,” she remarked in a statement to The Verge, “and we’re eager to expand on those successes and communicate in a manner no other administration has achieved.”