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Members of President Donald Trump‘s Cabinet are launching accounts on TikTok, marking a sharp reversal from the administration’s position during Trump’s first term, when the White House sought to ban the Chinese-owned social media platform over national security concerns.
The move was promoted Tuesday by the White House, which posted on X: “The Trump Administration Cabinet JUST HIT TIKTOK. Don’t miss a second of the hype. See you there.”
The White House’s promotional post announcing the Cabinet’s arrival on TikTok also featured the signature riff from The White Stripes’ 2003 hit “Seven Nation Army.” The song has previously been at the center of a legal dispute involving Trump. In September 2024, Jack and Meg White sued him and his campaign over copyright infringement after a video used the song without their permission, alleging the music had been misappropriated to promote Trump’s candidacy. The White Stripes later voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice, allowing for the possibility that it could be refiled in the future.
Newsweek reached out to the White House and representatives for Jack White via email for comment.
As the song played in the background, the video cycled through members of Trump’s Cabinet.
The new TikTok accounts come only days after the Justice Department reportedly informed federal employees that the app was considered safe to use following its transfer to a U.S.-approved ownership structure.
TikTok accounts were created for the U.S. Departments of Energy, Veterans Affairs (VA), Education, Justice, Homeland Security, Interior and Health and Human Services (HHS), including individual accounts for HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum posted about the department’s new TikTok account, as did VA Secretary Doug Collins, including a link that would take people to the new accounts.
The move also arrives as attention begins turning toward the midterm elections. Trump has credited TikTok with helping him reach younger voters during the 2024 campaign, and the platform remains one of the most popular social media apps among younger Americans. The launch of Cabinet accounts could expand the administration’s ability to communicate directly with those audiences as both parties begin preparing for the next national election cycle.
Striking Shift on TikTok From Trump’s First Term Explained
The embrace of TikTok represents a significant change from Trump’s first term. In 2020, the administration argued that TikTok posed a national security threat because its parent company, ByteDance, was based in China. Officials warned that Americans’ user data could potentially be accessed by the Chinese government and raised concerns that Beijing could influence the content users saw on the platform.
Those concerns fueled years of political and legal battles over TikTok’s future in the United States. Congress banned TikTok from most federal government devices in December 2022 under then-President Joe Biden’s administration over the same concerns that ByteDance could expose U.S. user data to the Chinese government.
In 2024, Congress passed legislation requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a U.S. ban. After months of negotiations and enforcement delays, the Trump administration announced in September 2025 that it had approved a framework under which TikTok’s U.S. operations would be transferred to a new U.S.-based joint venture. The White House said the arrangement would place the company under majority U.S. ownership, reduce ByteDance’s stake to less than 20 percent and subject the platform to enhanced security oversight. Oracle was designated as the security provider responsible for monitoring the safety of U.S. operations and user data.
Administration officials argued that the deal resolved the core national security issues by moving U.S. user data into a secure domestic cloud environment, shifting control of recommendation systems and content moderation decisions to the new U.S. entity, and creating ongoing monitoring requirements.
The White House appears to be embracing TikTok as a tool for distributing government announcements and reaching younger Americans, a notable shift from the app’s contentious status in Washington just a few years ago.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Edward T. Cummins.
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