Trump Super PAC Joins TikTok in 2024 Push for Younger Voters

Akayla Gardner, Bloomberg News

Former US President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at the Waukesha Expo Center in Waukesha, Wisconsin, US, on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. In the swing states that are key to the November election, US President Joe Biden now leads Donald Trump only in Michigan, falling back behind the former president in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, with his deficit growing larger in Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- A political action committee backing Donald Trump is opening an account on TikTok, the popular social-media app facing pressure from the US government over privacy and national security concerns.

The Trump super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., debuted on the platform Wednesday, months after President Joe Biden’s campaign launched its own account.

TikTok has been thrust into the election spotlight as its Chinese parent, ByteDance Ltd., faces a deadline to sell its stake in the company or face a ban in US app stores. TikTok is suing the federal government over the measure, which was championed by both congressional Republicans and the White House.

More than 170 million Americans have accounts on the platform, according to the company. A significant number of Gen-Z and millennial voters are on the platform, giving it a massive election-year audience as both Trump and Biden seek to court younger voters in their November rematch.

“There’s millions of voters on TikTok,” MAGA Inc. CEO Taylor Budowich said in a statement. “We aren’t trying to set policy, we are trying to win an election.”

“Big Tech, including Google and Facebook, is actively interfering with our elections, that’s an unfortunate reality. Yet, we will not cede any platform to Joe Biden and the Democrats who are trying to destroy our country,” he added.

There is no evidence Google and Facebook have engaged in election interference.

Trump has said he opposes a ban on TikTok even though he tried to ban the app while president. And he’s been critical of other social media companies, including Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook, which banned him for two years following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

Biden’s decision to sign the divest-or-ban law has drawn criticism from younger voters and influencers on the app, including some who have pushed content supporting his reelection bid.

Earlier: TikTok Divest-or-Ban Law Rattles Pro-Biden Influencers

The Trump campaign and his super PAC are legally prohibited from coordinating. It’s unclear whether Trump’s campaign will launch their own account on TikTok, though the Washington Post reported Wednesday that aides were discussing such a move.

Trump’s campaign did not immediately reply to a request for comment.