In an apparent act of rebellion against TikTok, Donald Trump has created an account on rival social network Triller. His first video, uploaded over the weekend, has garnered more than 4.8 million views.
The verified account—”brought to you by Team Trump”—is a slap in the face to popular app TikTok, soon to be banned in the US via the president’s executive order. And while Microsoft is currently in negotiations to take over from Chinese parent company ByteDance, if a deal is not inked by Sept. 20, the White House can begin penalizing US companies and individuals that work with TikTok.
Boasting more than 10,600 followers, the “official” Trump Triller features four short-form clips, including two aimed at presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. The most recent praises Boaters for Trump—floating parades supporting the president’s re-election. An introductory clip, in which the Commander in Chief brags that he’s “a professional at technology” and that “nobody can do it like me,” has more than 8,000 likes and nearly five million views. Triller did not immediately respond to PCMag’s request for comment.
“If TikTok does get banned, we will probably take their place,” Triller CEO Mike Lu said in a recent statement, published by USA Today. The platform’s servers “literally blew up” the weekend after Trump issued his first executive order to ban TikTok and WeChat, according to the paper. Launched in 2015, Triller really gained traction this year following TikTok’s ban in India. Among its more notable users are Miley Cyrus and her father Billy Ray Cyrus, Mike Tyson, The Weeknd, Snoop Dogg, and DJ Khaled, as well as a handful of internet celebrities like Bryce Hall and Lele Pons.
Several TikTok-famous creators have already announced their move to Triller. But most of the Gen Zers and Millennials who helped drive TikTok to the top of the app charts have no interest in government-sanctioned alternatives. In a survey of more than 10,000 users aged 16 to 35, a whopping 83 percent said they are not concerned enough about Chinese interference to consider deleting the app. In fact, more than half are upset about Trump’s impending ban, and when asked specifically about TikTok versus Triller, 88 percent of respondents chose the former.
