Vice President Kamala Harris, who is now running for president in 2024 against Donald Trump, on Thursday launched her own account on social-entertainment app TikTok.
TikTok has exploded with Harris memes since she assumed the role of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, following President Biden’s announcement Sunday that he would suspend his re-election campaign. Those have included video mashups of her dancing and laughing as well as clips featuring the viral “coconut tree” meme. Also trending on TikTok for Harris: the “brat” meme, after Charli XCX labeled Harris “brat” in a nod to the singer’s latest album.
Her TikTok account (@kamalaharris) had attracted nearly 200,000 followers in less than two hours. [UPDATE: Within the first 16 hours, the account had garnered more than 1.6 million followers.]
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The first video posted to Harris’ account was captioned, “Thought it was about time to join!” In the video, someone asks, “Madam Vice President, are you on TikTok?” Harris replies, “Well, I’ve heard that recently I’ve been on the For You page so I thought I would get on here myself.”
Harris’ move to join TikTok comes after Bidenin April signeda bill into law mandating thatChina-based ByteDancesell its interest in TikTok or face a nationwide ban of the app. The potential ban of TikTok in the U.S.could happenas early as January 2025if ByteDance doesn’t divest its ownership stake. The concern among many American lawmakers — on both sides of the aisle — is that the Chinese communist regime could “weaponize” TikTok and spy on U.S. citizens.
In March, Harris said in an interview with ABC News that “We do not intend to ban TikTok.”
“We need to deal with the owner and we have national security concerns about the owner of TikTok, but we have no intention to ban TikTok,” Harris told the outlet. She also said TikTok has “very important” benefits, like serving as a source of income for creators and “allowing people to share information in a free way.”
Trump, meanwhile, launched an account on TikTok in June. Earlier this year, Trump spoke out against a TikTok ban — not for First Amendment reasons but because, according to the ex-president, such a move would benefit Mark Zuckerberg’s meta. “If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” he posted on Truth Social, calling Facebook “a true Enemy of the People!”
Watch Kamala Harris’ first post on TikTok:
@kamalaharris Thought it was about time to join!
♬ original sound – Kamala Harris
