Government introduces inaugural TikTok account for the White House, confronting legal uncertainty
The deadline for TikTok, the popular video-sharing app, to either sell its U.S. operations or face a ban has been extended once again, this time to September 17, 2021. This decision comes after the initial law was passed under the former President Joe Biden administration.
Despite the extension, it's important to note that this does not indicate a change in the stance towards TikTok's security concerns in the USA. The app, owned by parent company ByteDance, remains controversial due to national security concerns linked to its Chinese origins.
In a surprising turn of events, TikTok has gained significance for President Trump as it helped him gain support among American young voters in the 2024 presidential elections. This shift in perspective is evident in the White House's official TikTok account, which was launched in August 2020 and features videos of President Trump and his staff. The caption of the first post was "America we are BACK! What's up TikTok?"
The extension of the deadline was made to continue communicating the administration's successes to various audiences and platforms, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. The first post on the White House TikTok account was a 27-second video clip.
It's worth mentioning that the TikTok ban on federal devices was upheld by the Supreme Court, but its enforcement and the ultimate fate of TikTok's U.S. presence remain in flux due to political and strategic decisions by the current administration.
Congress passed a "divest-or-ban" law in 2024 demanding ByteDance sell TikTok's U.S. operations, but Trump has delayed enforcing this law multiple times, effectively postponing the sale or potential ban. President Trump, who initially pushed for a ban in his first term, now dismisses previous security concerns as "highly overrated" and uses TikTok heavily in his 2024 re-election campaign.
TikTok continues to be scrutinized over user data security and its algorithmic influence, concerns which remain unresolved but are politically downplayed by President Trump. As of August 2025, the White House TikTok account had around 70K followers, a significant growth from the approximately 4500 followers it gained in less than an hour after its first post.
In summary, TikTok is neither banned entirely nor sold yet in the U.S., with ongoing political maneuvering allowing it to operate legally while the Biden/Trump administration uses it for outreach, including presidential campaign efforts. The White House’s active TikTok account and Trump’s pivot mark a significant shift from previous policies aiming to ban the app outright.
