White House belies need for TikTok shutdown

TikTok's appeal and effectiveness as a communication channel has not been lost on even the White House.

Uploading three short videos featuring highlight moments of the US president at home and abroad, the White House launched its own official TikTok account on Tuesday.

The account had garnered more than 73,200 followers and over 120,700 "likes" within less than 24 hours, demonstrating the platform's value as a shortcut for the US administration to get its message across to the app's users.

But while it is not surprising that the White House should seek to leverage the popularity of the app in the United States, the blase way that the White House introduced the account is.

"The Trump administration is committed to communicating the historic successes President Trump has delivered to the American people with as many audiences and platforms as possible," White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said, as if TikTok is no different from any other app that the administration treats as a "reliable" channel to connect with the public.

For a long time some politicians in the US have smeared TikTok as a "threat" to US data security, and the app still faces a "sell or ban" law that requires its parent company ByteDance to divest its US operations or see the app banned in the country.

That the White House now has its own TikTok account undoubtedly contradicts the "national security threat" rhetoric that claims ByteDance is beholden to the Chinese government and that the app could be used to influence US citizens.

Well aware of the platform's importance as a means to reach young people, the US president opted not to enforce the aforementioned law that was passed last year after he began his second term as president on Jan 20; first extending the deadline to early April, then to June 19 and then again to Sept 17.

That the White House launched its own account on the app less than one month before the third extended deadline expires only serves to expose the hypocrisy of the US side's alleged "security" charges against TikTok.

ByteDance is not the only Chinese company US politicians have smeared with unwarranted "security threat" allegations. The electronics companies Huawei and ZTE, as well as those related to shipbuilding and port equipment, have also been unjustifiably targeted. DJI, a Chinese drone maker, was put on the US government's blacklist and then removed simply because its US clients could not find substitutes for its products.

But it is the company's algorithm — which constitutes its core competitiveness and helps it achieve the popularity — that has really triggered Washington's covetousness.

TikTok has 170 million US users and has become integrated into business operations across the country. A study commissioned by TikTok's US operator and conducted by Oxford Economics in late 2024 through early 2025, found that approximately 7.5 million businesses maintain active TikTok accounts. These businesses collectively employ more than 28 million people and 4.7 million more jobs in the US benefit from the platform's business accounts.

As Chinese foreign and commerce ministries' spokespersons have said on different occasions, the operation and acquisition of enterprises should be based on market principles and decided independently by the enterprises concerned. If Chinese enterprises are involved, they must comply with Chinese laws and regulations.

Notably, the Chinese authorities have issued a catalogue of technologies prohibited and restricted for export. This explicitly prohibits the export of core technologies such as short video algorithms, drawing a red line for the TikTok transaction.

It is to be hoped that the launch of the White House's TikTok account signals that the administration will listen more to the voices of businesses and the public and provide a fair and just business environment for the development of companies from all countries, including Chinese companies, in the US.

Calling a halt to the wanton targeting of Chinese companies would be conducive to economic and trade cooperation between China and the US and thus would be in the interests of both countries.