Donald Trump joins TikTok despite previously wanting ban

Donald Trump has joined TikTok, despite attempting to ban it on national security grounds during his presidency.

In 2020 he signed a presidential executive order attempting to ban the platform for its links to China, which was ultimately blocked by US courts.

He has since criticised recent attempts to curtail it, saying this would empower Facebook-owner Meta.

Mr Trump, who has amassed more than 3.6 million followers since launching his account on Saturday, said he will use "every tool available to speak directly with the American people".

President Joe Biden is also using the platform to campaign for re-election in November, but he has only picked up 340,000 followers - ten times fewer than that of his rival.

It comes after President Biden signed into law a bill which gives the social media platform's Chinese owner, ByteDance, nine months to divest the app or it will be blocked in the US.