The White House has officially entered the TikTok era, launching its own account on the embattled video-sharing platform just as the app faces a pivotal moment in its U.S. existence. On Tuesday evening, August 19, 2025, the administration rolled out the @whitehouse account, posting a 27-second sizzle reel featuring President Donald Trump. The video opened with a bold caption: "America we are BACK! What’s up TikTok?" and quickly drew thousands of eyes. According to Reuters and Inquirer, within an hour, the account had already amassed about 4,500 followers. By early the next day, that number had soared past 80,000, underscoring both the platform’s viral reach and the high-stakes political drama swirling around it.
This move comes amid ongoing legal and political uncertainty for TikTok in the United States. The app, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, has been at the center of a fierce debate about national security, free speech, and the influence of social media on American democracy. The controversy began in earnest back in 2020, when then-President Trump signed an executive order declaring that "the spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in [China] continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States." The order called for "aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security."
Fast forward to 2024 and 2025, and the stakes have only grown higher. Last year, President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan law requiring ByteDance to divest from TikTok or face a nationwide ban. The law, upheld by the Supreme Court, led to the app’s removal from U.S. app stores on January 18, 2025. For a brief moment, American TikTok users were greeted with a stark message: "Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately that means you can’t use TikTok for now."
But in a dramatic twist, President Trump—who returned to the White House after the 2024 election—extended the deadline for ByteDance to sell the app to a non-Chinese buyer. Within hours, TikTok was back online. A message on the app read: "Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!" TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who attended Trump’s inauguration, praised the president for the extension in a video message, signaling a rare moment of public gratitude from the embattled tech company.
The deadline for a sale has now been extended several times, with the current expiration looming on September 17, 2025. According to Time, Trump said in June that a deal with "a group of very wealthy people" was close, but acknowledged that his own tariffs on China may have complicated negotiations. The president’s shifting stance on TikTok has been striking. During his first term, he was one of the app’s harshest critics, calling it a national security threat and pushing for its outright ban. But after witnessing TikTok’s power to mobilize young voters during his 2024 campaign, Trump appears to have changed his tune.
Indeed, the numbers speak for themselves. Trump’s personal TikTok account, @realdonaldtrump, has ballooned to more than 110 million followers, making it one of the most influential political accounts on the platform. His campaign aides have called it "the most successful launch in political history" and credited it as the campaign’s "secret sauce." In the first video posted to the new White House account, Trump declared, "I am your voice," a message spliced together with footage of campaign rallies and press events. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Reuters that "President Trump’s message dominated TikTok during his presidential campaign, and we’re excited to build upon those successes and communicate in a way no other administration has before."
The White House’s TikTok videos have not shied away from theatrics. Clips show Trump declining phone calls from congressmen, threatening lawsuits during press conferences, and Leavitt "ripping" into a New York Times reporter. The tone is brash, rebellious, and unmistakably Trumpian. Yet the reception has been mixed. As reported by TechCrunch, many of the five videos uploaded by Wednesday morning were met with a flood of negative comments, with some users referencing Trump’s controversial friendships and others expressing skepticism about the administration’s use of the platform.
All the while, the legal uncertainty surrounding TikTok remains unresolved. The law signed during the Biden administration still prohibits federal employees from downloading TikTok on government devices, with only limited exceptions. This rule, meant to address national security concerns, puts the White House in a somewhat awkward position: while they’re using TikTok to reach the masses, most federal workers are still officially barred from installing the app on their work phones. The administration’s move to operate an official account, then, is both a bold communication strategy and a potential challenge to existing federal guidelines.
Trump’s evolving approach to TikTok has drawn attention across the political spectrum. On one hand, his critics argue that the president’s willingness to extend deadlines and promote the app contradicts his earlier warnings about Chinese influence and data privacy. On the other, supporters point to TikTok’s unparalleled reach among young Americans and credit the platform with helping the president connect with a new generation of voters. As Inquirer noted, Trump himself has said he is "fond of TikTok," and believes it played a crucial role in his 2024 electoral victory.
Meanwhile, TikTok’s future in the United States hangs in the balance. The September deadline for ByteDance to sell the app or face a renewed ban is fast approaching, and there’s little clarity about whether a deal will be reached. Trump has hinted that Beijing’s approval is still needed for any sale to go through, and there are lingering doubts about whether his administration’s tariffs on China have made negotiations more difficult. As the clock ticks down, both TikTok users and political observers are left wondering what the next chapter will bring.
For now, the White House’s foray into TikTok is a vivid illustration of the complex relationship between politics, technology, and national security in 2025. The administration’s embrace of the platform—despite its legal limbo and the president’s own shifting rhetoric—underscores just how powerful and unpredictable the world of social media has become. Whether TikTok will remain a fixture in American digital life, or become a casualty of geopolitical tensions, is a question that remains very much up in the air.
