President Donald Trump has repeatedly talked of his “influence” on TikTok over the past week, claiming that he’s No. 1 on the platform.
That’s not quite the case.
Trump, in a bizarre clip posted to his TikTok page last week, stood by a framed copy of the Declaration of Independence in the Oval Office as he remarked on hearing about “all of the influence” the platform possesses.
“But here’s the only problem. I’m No. 1 on TikTok. Can you believe it? I’m No. 1. Look as those numbers,” said Trump while displaying a graphic claiming that he’s the “MOST FOLLOWED” and “WATCHED” world leader on the platform.
Trump is the most-followed world leader on TikTok, according to a recent CNBC analysis, yet he’s far from having the largest following.
That title belongs to TikTok star Khaby Lame, who has over 162.4 million followers.
Trump, by comparison, has a mere 16.7 million followers.
The graphic — which, according to Trump, was sent by TikTok CEO Shou Chew — also references some 425 billion all-time views on TikToks tagged with “#Trump.”
The image also points to billions of views on TikToks related to his D.C. “beautification” projects, the Iran “peace deal,” as well as those linked to the UFC Freedom 250 event on the White House’s South Lawn.
MeidasTouch’s J.D. Wolf noted that such figures include “supportive, neutral, and critical content alike,” meaning TikToks that knock the administration’s work on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, for instance, would be looped into the data.
Trump, while holding a printout of the graphic in the Oval Office, nonetheless bragged that “billions and billions of people” are looking at him.
“And I keep hearing about the influence other people have,” Trump continued in the clip. “I don’t know. How come I’m No. 1 if they have so much influence? There’s your number, so I think we have influence, too.”
Then, in conclusion, he added, “And I’m saying, ‘Stop communism!’”
Trump originally shared the clip just days after he claimed Taylor Swift, who has about twice as many TikTok followers as he does (33.5 million), was “No. 11” on the platform.