WASHINGTON, June 3, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Former US president and current White
House hopeful Donald Trump has joined TikTok, posting his first video on the
wildly popular social media app he once tried to ban while in office.

Reaching out to younger voters as he seeks reelection in November, Trump
posted a 13-second clip Saturday night that shows him in his usual blue suit
and red tie attending an Ultimate Fighting Championship bout in Newark, New
Jersey.

In the video, which features raucous music, Trump is introduced by UFC CEO
Dana White and leans into the camera saying, "It's my honor."

Trump greets people at the UFC arena and concludes the clip by saying, "That
was a good walk-on, right?"

As of midday Sunday, Trump already had two million followers on his account
at @realDonaldTrump.

In April, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill that would ban TikTok in
the United States if its Chinese owner Bytedance fails to find a buyer for
the app within a year.

US officials have expressed concern that China's government uses TikTok to
gather Americans' personal data for other nefarious purposes.

The Biden campaign this year also joined TikTok, which has more than 170
million users in the United States.

While in power, Trump tried to ban TikTok on national security grounds with
an executive order, but the drive got bogged down in the courts when a
federal judge questioned how the move would affect free speech and blocked
the initiative.

In early May, TikTok and Bytedance filed a legal challenge against the law
that would ban the app.

ByteDance has said it has no plans to sell TikTok, leaving the lawsuit, which
will likely go to the US Supreme Court, as its only option to avoid a ban.