One of Donald Trump's first moves after he regained his seat in the Oval Office earlier this year was to reinstate TikTok in the United States and extend the deadline for a sale, and he has now made an appearance on the platform, issuing an ominous message for all young Americans.
TikTok has quickly become one of the most popular social media platforms in the United States over the last five or six years, and the impending ban following rulings from the Biden administration appeared to threaten many who use the app on a daily basis.
Donald Trump, however, came to the 'rescue' at the last minute by removing the ban and giving more time and space for its owner ByteDance to find a buyer in the near future.
Conversations have been ongoing ever since that decision was made in January, with a number of big names seemingly throwing their hat into the ring as potential investors, especially with a potentially lower price on the table.
Advert
Many speculated that then-Trump ally Elon Musk would be among the first to be considered, and social media star Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson seemed to be joining up with a consortium to offer his own deal to take over the app.
However, as reported by CNN, we now know that TikTok will be likely taken over by a consortium including including investors from Oracle, Andreessen, Horowitz, and Silver Lake, which is roughly what the president proposed back in April.
With the sale seemingly almost out of the way, President Trump has finally taken to TikTok in his first post on the app since the election to issue a worrying message, as per the Independent.
Advert
"To all of those young people of TikTok, I saved TikTok, so you owe me big," declared Trump in a video that has already accrued over seven million views since it was uploaded.
"Now you're looking at me in the Oval Office, and someday one of you are gonna be sitting right at this desk, and you're be doing a great job also," Trump added.
Comments underneath the post are mixed between those offering their thanks to Trump for 'saving' the app, while others have expressed their frustration and worries with the new direction.
Advert
"You saved everything," wrote one thankful commenter, whereas another comment has regretfully claimed that "now TikTok is restricted by Larry Ellison," who briefly became the richest man in the world due to his ownership of Oracle.
A third joked that "Trump saved TikTok from Trump" in response to the president's continued demands that the app should be sold in order to continue its operations, alongside a number of comments that call for the release of the Epstein files.