Trump Joins TikTok Rival and Gets 1.2M Views For First Video
TikTok rival Triller has gained a new influencer, and it’s none other than U.S. President Donald Trump.
“I’m a professional at technology,” Trump can be heard saying in his first-ever Triller video. “Nobody can do it like me. Nobody.”
The account’s debut video has racked up over 4,000 followers for the new and verified account in just 24 hours. The video itself has nearly 1.2 million views as of press time.
Executive Order
The creation of Trump’s Triller account on Saturday followed his release of an executive order giving TikTok parent ByteDance 90 days to either sell or spinoff its operations in the U.S.
In the order, Trump said the U.S. government had ‘credible evidence’ that ByteDance’s operations “threaten to impair the national security of the United States.”
“TikTok’s data threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information -- potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information and blackmail and conduct corporate espionage,” the order stated.
University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias told Fox Business that Trump’s decision to make his presence felt on Triller “does not seem to clarify his strategy for addressing TikTok.”
Still, Triller is seeing a sharp uptick in users as the Trump administration continues its push against TikTok. According to The Verge, Triller has seen more than 315 million more downloads in the first quarter of 2020 alone.
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Tiktok Future Still Uncertain
TikTok, for its part, remains steadfast in its position that it has done nothing to warrant such bad press from the government.
“We have made it clear that TikTok has never shared user data with the Chinese government, nor censored content at its request,” the company said in a statement. “We want the 100 million Americans who love our platform because it is your home for expression, entertainment, and connection to know: TikTok has never, and will never, waver in our commitment to you.”
While Trump has said he’s ‘okay’ with Microsoft acquiring TikTok, talks for the takeover are still underway. Microsoft expects to complete discussions no later than September 15.
The clock is ticking though, and it doesn’t seem like good news for TikTok that its biggest influencers -- along the President himself -- are moving to its rival platforms.