Incredibly, one of President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Attorney General Garland's last acts before the door hits them on the way out of the White House this weekend will be among their most petty - denying Donald Trump the ability to reach the massive and largely young community he built on TikTok which helped carry him to victory in November.
According to a Pew Research Poll from last fall, 17% of Americans get their news on TikTok. And within that larger group, a whopping 39% of young people ages 18 to 29 are getting their news on the platform. All of them are part of the 170 million Americans on the app – including the President-elect’s 15 million followers. On Monday, many of them will reflexively turn to TikTok to watch and celebrate Donald Trump’s inauguration. In spite of Trump's plea to extend the deadline on a TikTok ban to allow our negotiator in chief to strike a deal which allows him to save the app while protecting the security of the user’s data, the outgoing Biden/Garland Department of Justice has put significant energy and resources into ensuring that the app goes dark on January 19th, the day before Inauguration Day.
Most people who don’t understand social media, and who most certainly aren’t on TikTok, will use the argument that Trump will easily reach his followers on traditional television channel news that day, but that simply isn’t where a significant amount of people get their news anymore. Media critics and news watchers alike will tell you that the era of cable news is over. Look no further than last fall, when MSNBC saw a 53% ratings decline between October and November.
Still, others will argue that the President-elect will be able to reach everyone through his other social media. There's a major flaw in that argument. Trump's own data shows even though he has more followers on Instagram, which incidentally was founded and is owned by the suddenly and recently pro-MAGA Mark Zuckerberg, the President-elect’s posts on TikTok perform 5 times better than his Instagram posts as far as engagement.
Trump is the most media savvy president in history yet he's dominating on TikTok over all other platforms, including traditional news outlets. His account is the number one political account on TikTok on the planet, one of the fastest growing since he joined in June of 2024. Trump has twice as many views as Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, Beyonce, and Kamala Harris combined. TikTok is clearly allowing the President-elect to reach people that he simply can't reach on any other platform.
This isn't’ just about the President-elect and his political supporters. Americans on TikTok are expressing themselves in a variety of ways – creating, connecting, building small businesses, to name just a few. Make no mistake, this is about our right to free speech and expression, which is laid out clearly in the Constitution. This massive Biden-era federal overreach is going to silence everyone on the platform.
On Inauguration Day next Monday, not everyone can make it to Washington. Those supporters of the President-elect who are all over America have been looking forward to celebrating – and celebrating together on TikTok – are being denied the opportunity to do so because of Joe Biden. More than anything, the President’s elect supporters – who found so much joy in connecting and creating a Trump community on social media during the election, are sad that their platform of choice is being singled out for a ban.
There is hope on the horizon for the 170 million Americans on TikTok and its especially good news for the incredible MAGA community that has come together on the platform - Trump has promised to save the app and he’s already hard at work doing so. Bringing TikTok back online could be one of his first acts to unite the country and undo the damage that Biden, Harris and Garland have inflicted on America over the past 4 years.
But until then, it's simply a shame that their pettiness will rob Trump and the 170 million Americans on TikTok of the chance to connect and to celebrate on America’s Inauguration Day.
Peter Mihalick is the former legislative director and counsel to former Reps. Barbara Comstock (R-VA) and Rodney Blum (R-IA).
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