The White House opened an official TikTok account on Aug. 19, posting a 27-second montage of President Donald Trump declaring, “I am your voice,” under the caption “America we are BACK! What’s up TikTok?”. The handle @whitehouse drew tens of thousands of followers within hours, giving the administration a direct channel to the video app’s roughly 170 million U.S. users. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration wants to “communicate the historic successes President Trump has delivered” and build on the platform strategy that Trump credits with helping him capture the youth vote in the 2024 election. The launch comes even as TikTok’s future in the United States remains uncertain. Under a law signed last year, ByteDance must sell the app’s U.S. operations or face a nationwide ban by Sept. 17. Trump, who has already extended the deadline three times, is seeking a deal that would shift control to American investors amid bipartisan concerns that Chinese ownership could compromise user data and allow Beijing to influence public opinion.