Donald Trump quickly surpasses Prez Biden on TikTok with just one video

By Kurt Wagner

Former President Donald Trump posted his first video to TikTok on Saturday, and has already amassed more followers and likes than President Joe Biden’s campaign account as the two men vie for attention before November’s general election. 
 

Trump’s first post, which showed him standing next to Ultimate Fighting Championship Chief Executive Officer Dana White before attending this past weekend’s slate of fights in Newark, has garnered 5.9 million likes, and his account has 5.6 million followers after just four days. Biden’s campaign account, which has posted hundreds of videos since its debut in February, has just 361,000 followers and 4.7 million likes.

Trump’s campaign trumpeted the contrast in a press release on Wednesday, highlighting his popularity on an app that he tried to ban four years ago while he was in office. 

He has since come out in support of TikTok, which faces a possible ban in the US if its Chinese parent company, ByteDance Ltd., does not divest its ownership stake in the platform by Jan. 19. Biden, who signed the law that could eventually ban TikTok on grounds that the app poses a security risk to American users, is still using the platform to campaign. 

Content on TikTok about Trump has generally outperformed posts focused on Biden in recent months, although performance varies based on the news cycle, according to Ben Darr, the founder of CredoIQ, a social media analytics firm. 

The Biden campaign said it was continuing to bolster its presence on social media platforms, including TikTok and Instagram, and committed to spending millions of dollars on digital investments as well as forging bonds with influencers. 

Both candidates are using TikTok to appeal to young voters. TikTok claims it has 170 million monthly users in the US, and its parent company is vigorously fighting in court the divest-or-ban law.