New York: Former United States President Donald Trump who once tried to ban the Chinese social media app TikTok when he was in office has now joined the app saying it to be “an honour.” A video was posted from a UFC fight two days after Trump became the first former president and presumptive major party nominee in US history to be found guilty of 34 felony charges, AP reported.
“It’s an honour,” Trump said in the TikTok video, waving to supporters and posing for selfies at the Ultimate Fighting Championship fight in Newark, New Jersey, on Saturday night. At the end of the Trump tells the camera: “That was a good walk-on, right?”
By Sunday morning, Trump’s video received an enthusiastic welcome and had amassed more than 1.1 million followers on the platform and the post had garnered more than 1 million likes and 24 million views.
Speaking on why Trump decided to join the Chinese entertainment-based social media platform, spokesperson Steven Cheung in a statement said that they will leave no front undefended and will continue to reach out to a younger audience consuming pro-Trump and anti-Biden content.
“We will leave no front undefended and this represents the continued outreach to a younger audience consuming pro-Trump and anti-Biden content.”
“There’s no place better than a UFC event to launch President Trump’s Tik Tok, where he received a hero’s welcome and thousands of fans cheered him on,” Steven added.
However, in April this year, President Joe Biden signed legislation that could ban TikTok in the country, even as his campaign joined in February and has tried to work with influencers. According to the legislation, the Biden administration gives TikTok owner ByteDance nine months to sell the company, with a possible additional three months if a sale is in progress. If it doesn’t, TikTok will be banned. Biden barred the app on most government devices in December 2022.
Saturday’s day out marked to be Trump’s first public appearance after he was found guilty Thursday on 34 charges of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election by covering up hush money payments made to a porn actor who claimed she and Trump had sex by a New York jury. However, Trump has maintained his stand that he did nothing wrong and plans to appeal the verdict. He will be sentenced on July 11.
Trump Tried to Ban TikTok?
As US president during his tenure, Trump had tried to ban TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, stating that he believed that the app poses a national security risk, but later opposed banning it because that would help its rival, Facebook, which he continues to criticise over his 2020 election loss to Biden.
However, this time, his re-election campaign nonetheless uses the app, which it joined the night of the Super Bowl in February. His aides argue that in an increasingly fragmented modern media environment, the campaign must get its message out to voters via as many platforms as possible, including TikTok as well as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
‘From Ban to Fan’: Ex-US Prez Trump’s Shocking TikTok Appearance Ahead of Elections world-news, us World News | Latest International Global World News | Todays Breaking News Headlines
