【Text/Observer Net, Zhang Jingjuan】 While making a big deal out of TikTok, the White House also officially joined it with high profile.

According to reports from Reuters, CBS and other media outlets, on August 19 local time, the White House officially launched its TikTok official account. This move means that the US government will use this short video application, which has more than 170 million American users, to spread President Trump's information.

Notably, less than a month later, it will be the deadline set by Trump for this application: either find a new buyer or face a nationwide ban.

On the day the account was created, the White House released three videos. The first video, lasting 27 seconds, showed scenes of Trump meeting with supporters, with the background audio being the speech he gave at the 2016 Republican National Convention, where he said, "I am your voice." The second video showed the main building of the White House from multiple angles. The third video was a compilation of Trump's famous quotes.

As of the time of writing, the account had over 52,000 followers.

Regarding this account, the White House Press Secretary Levitt stated, "The Trump administration is committed to conveying the historic achievements of President Trump to Americans through as many audiences and platforms as possible."

She also mentioned that during the campaign, Trump's messages were widely spread on TikTok, and "we are happy to build on these successes to achieve even greater achievements, communicating in ways never before seen by the government."

Data shows that topics such as donaldtrump and #trump2024 have received over 10 billion views on TikTok.

During his first term, Trump issued a ban against TikTok, but since last year, his attitude toward TikTok has made a 180-degree turn, vowing to "save" the application.

The report said that Trump has a favorable view of TikTok because he believes this popular application helped him defeat Democrat Kamala Harris in the last election, winning support from young voters.

Professor Lv Xiang, an expert on American issues at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, mentioned that compared to the 2020 election, Trump's support among the 18-24 age group increased by 10%, showing significant growth, and this age group is the main user base of TikTok.

However, members of Congress in Washington are concerned, repeatedly making a big deal about the possibility of TikTok collecting user data for the Chinese government.

In April 2024, the US Congress passed the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act" (the "No Sale, No Use" Act), requiring ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to divest and sell TikTok business within 270 days after the law was passed (i.e., January 19, 2025) and hold no more than 20% stake, otherwise, US app stores and internet hosting service providers would not provide services for TikTok. Service providers who violate the law may face fines of billions of dollars.

However, just 12 hours after the enforcement of the ban, Trump, who returned to the White House, issued an executive order to extend the implementation period of the "No Sale, No Use" Act by 75 days until April 5. Afterward, Trump repeatedly postponed the date for implementing the ban on TikTok, finally setting it for September 17.

At the same time, Senator Ed Markey, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, recently drafted a bill titled "TikTok Transparency and Data Security," aiming to explore a legal way to avoid triggering a ban on TikTok. According to the bill, as long as TikTok ensures transparency in content review mechanisms and guarantees that the data of its American users will not be transmitted overseas, it can continue to operate in the US market. Currently, the bill is still in the drafting stage and has not entered the legislative process.

Regarding the issue of TikTok, China has repeatedly clarified its principle position. Lin Jian, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasized at a regular press conference that China will handle related issues according to its laws and regulations. The US should provide an open, fair, just, and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies operating in the US.

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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7540516282317046326/

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