Influencer Trump: ‘You know who is number one on TikTok? I!’

The meeting, broadcast by CNBC, served as a platform for Trump to address criticism of the popular app while positioning himself as its dominant voice.

“I’m #1 on TikTok”

During the conversation, Trump took the opportunity to counter perceptions of TikTok’s harmfulness, presenting his own popularity as evidence of its positive impact.

​- I saw several people criticizing TikTok, saying that TikTok is so bad and dangerous. Figures were published yesterday. Do you know who is number one on TikTok? “I’m number one on TikTok,” Trump said.

He also stated that the videos with his participation have collected a total of čfour billion views. According to his words, approximately half of the world’s population viewed his content on that social network, according to the world media. Prior to this statement, Trump criticized his predecessors for their inability to convince NATO member countries to increase military spending and praised the alliance’s secretary general for his flattery.

The reality behind the president’s claims

Despiteč According to Trump’s statements, publicly available data does not support his claim of global dominance on TikTok. By July 2026, Donald Trump’s official profile on that platform gathered around 16.6 million followers. Although this is a significant number for a political figure, it is far from the top of the list.

In comparison, the most followed person on TikTok, Khaby Lame, has more than 162 million followers. Singer Taylor Swift, whom Trump also mentioned as less popular, has a community of approximately 33.5 million followers. These figures put the president’s claims in a different context and raise the question of the strategy behind such statements.

Complex relationship and political strategy

Trump’s relationship with TikTok is complex and full of twists and turns. His administration tried to ban the app in the past, but recently embraced it as a key tool for reaching younger voters. The official profiles of the White House and the Trump campaign were launched in August 2025, and the president himself credits the platform with part of the credit for winning the 2024 election.

Communication tactics

Experts in psychology and political communication suggest that such easily verifiable false statements represent a deliberate strategy. The goal is to create a “cognitive load” among the public, which makes it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. For his supporters, such claims are not experienced literally, but rather; as a form of “authentic” expression and a challenge to the media and opponents. By dominating the media space, regardless of the truth of the claims, Trump reinforces the narrative of his own success and popularity. This approach is part of the wider trend of “politainment”, where political discourse increasingly takes on the characteristics of entertainment content to engage audiences on social networks.