The move comes as TikTok faces a ban in the US, or a sale to Microsoft or Twitter
Adam Smith THE INDEPENDENT AUGUST 17,2020
President Donald Trump has joined TikTok competitor Triller, months before TikTok is expected to be banned in the United States.
Triller is a shortform video app that tries to set itself apart by an auto-editing algorithm which sets videos to music from the app’s library or that users upload themselves.
The account for the president (@donaldjtrump) currently has 104,000 followers, and has uploaded four videos. It also features a small blue verification tick, similar to that on Twitter and many other social media sites.
The first Triller video Mr Trump uploaded - and his most popular one with 4.8m views at time of writing - features audio and video of the president saying “I’m a professional at technology,” and “nobody can do it like me
Other videos include Mr. Trump claiming that the Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden “has no clue”, and one mocking a gaffe Biden made in a previous interview.
Triller has recently surged in popularity following the executive order president Trump signed against TikTok, banning it from the United States unless it was purchased by a US company.
Microsoft and Twitter are reportedly interested in the acquisition, although Microsoft founder Bill Gates has described TikTok as a “poisoned chalice”.
Such a decision – which has been pushed by the president – is being made over alleged national security concerns due to TikTok’s parent company Bytedance and its relationship to the Chinese government with regards to the transfer of data.
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TikTok has denied any such allegations, and has claimed that Mr Trump’s executive order is illegal.
Recently, TikTok has been the subject of a lawsuit from Triller due to the similarity of its features.
“Triller alleges that ByteDance and TikTok directly and indirectly infringe the Asserted Patent by making, using, offering for sale, selling and importing the popular iOS and Android software application known as ‘TikTok,'” the lawsuit states.
The suit came as TikTok accused Facebook of copying it when the social media giant launched Reels, a feature of Facebook-owned Instagram that is a near-clone of the Chinese app which was recently debuted in the US.
Trump has joined a TikTok rival and is already being mercilessly trolled by teens
Picture: SARAH SILBIGER/Reuters/Taylor Lorenz/Twitter
Donald Trump's attempts to ban TikTok in the United States have taken an unusual turn as he has joined a rival app called Triller.
Over the weekend the president shared several campaign videos on his Triller account many of which have already received more than 100,000 views. The video which was shared on the account, announcing that the president had joined the app has received four million views.
New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz noted that Trump had joined the app on Saturday. The first video that Trump shared sees him claim that "I'm a professional in technology" and "Nobody can do it like me."
Two of the other videos that Trump has shared on the app are attacks on Joe Biden and another sees him champion his supporters who attempted to break a world record at the weekend for a boat parade.
Trump already has 10,000 followers on the app but as Lorenz documented in her Twitter thread, many of the comments on the president's videos, which mostly appear to be from teenagers are critical of him and are telling him to leave the app alone. One account suggested that he should 'ban this instead of TikTok' as it is 'way better.'
Lorenz also notes that many conservative accounts that used to be active on TikTok have signed up to the app since Trump joined, while pro-Trump conspiracy theories are also being promoted on there
TikTok has denied any such allegations, and has claimed that Mr Trump’s executive order is illegal.
Recently, TikTok has been the subject of a lawsuit from Triller due to the similarity of its features.
“Triller alleges that ByteDance and TikTok directly and indirectly infringe the Asserted Patent by making, using, offering for sale, selling and importing the popular iOS and Android software application known as ‘TikTok,'” the lawsuit states.
The suit came as TikTok accused Facebook of copying it when the social media giant launched Reels, a feature of Facebook-owned Instagram that is a near-clone of the Chinese app which was recently debuted in the US.
Trump has joined a TikTok rival and is already being mercilessly trolled by teens
Greg Evans in tech
Picture: SARAH SILBIGER/Reuters/Taylor Lorenz/Twitter
Donald Trump's attempts to ban TikTok in the United States have taken an unusual turn as he has joined a rival app called Triller.
Over the weekend the president shared several campaign videos on his Triller account many of which have already received more than 100,000 views. The video which was shared on the account, announcing that the president had joined the app has received four million views.
New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz noted that Trump had joined the app on Saturday. The first video that Trump shared sees him claim that "I'm a professional in technology" and "Nobody can do it like me."
Two of the other videos that Trump has shared on the app are attacks on Joe Biden and another sees him champion his supporters who attempted to break a world record at the weekend for a boat parade.
Trump already has 10,000 followers on the app but as Lorenz documented in her Twitter thread, many of the comments on the president's videos, which mostly appear to be from teenagers are critical of him and are telling him to leave the app alone. One account suggested that he should 'ban this instead of TikTok' as it is 'way better.'
Lorenz also notes that many conservative accounts that used to be active on TikTok have signed up to the app since Trump joined, while pro-Trump conspiracy theories are also being promoted on there
The president has been vowing to ban TikTok in the United States over security concerns about the Chinese owned company. TikTok denies all of his allegations.
The app has recently seen an increase in activism from teenagers who have been attempting to sabotage Trump's election campaign. Stunts have included successfully requesting tickets for Trump rallies and not showing up and giving his campaign app bad reviews.
The app has recently seen an increase in activism from teenagers who have been attempting to sabotage Trump's election campaign. Stunts have included successfully requesting tickets for Trump rallies and not showing up and giving his campaign app bad reviews.
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