Former President Donald Trump is blowing up on TikTok.
Since joining the platform on Saturday, the ex-president accumulated 3.7 million followers.
His debut video—so far the only post on the new account—features clips of Trump attending UFC 302 in Newark, New Jersey and UFC President Dana White announcing his TikTok account launch.
“It’s my honor,” Trump says, before the video cuts to clips of him taking selfies and interacting with event attendees.
In the just over 24 hours since the video has been posted, it has been viewed 63 million times and liked by 3.7 million people.
@realdonaldtrump Launching my TikTok at @UFC ♬ original sound – President Donald J Trump
The comment section is full of users celebrating Trump’s arrival to the platform, with many replying along the likes of “fastest I’ve ever hit the follow button.”
Trump’s decision to join TikTok marks a reversal from his stance toward the app during his time in office—when he tried to ban the app via executive order in 2020.
“TikTok automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users, including Internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories,” Trump wrote of the executive order. “This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information—potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.”
But Trump changed his tune in the lead-up to President Joe Biden signing a law that will ban TikTok unless it is sold within a year.
“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in March. “I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!”
Trump’s successful entrance to TikTok is being celebrated by conservatives, many of whom mockingly contrasted his overnight accumulation of followers to the Biden campaign’s 345,000 followers.
Biden has been on the app since February.
“Trump made a tiktok account less than 12 hours ago and has 1.4M followers,” noted the right-wing account Libs of TikTok. “Biden amassed a total of 335k followers since February.”
One person decided that the disparity in followers is “proof that the 2020 election was stolen right there.”
Others concluded that the quick surge in followers reflected popularity among younger voters.
“Donald Trump is gaining popularity across all demographics, including younger voters who traditionally vote Democrat,” wrote one pundit.
“Donald Trump joining TikTok is going to be huge, you watch,” said former British politician Nigel Farage. “Gen Z are crying out for leadership.”
Quipped another user: “Looks like the Democrats will finally have a comfortable reason to ban TikTok.”
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