Vice President Kamala Harris has launched a TikTok account, gaining over a million followers within six hours of posting her first video.
Since Harris became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee following President Biden’s announcement that he was pulling out of the election, TikTok has been flooded with content about her.
The clips are broadly framed in a flattering way, including mash-ups of her dancing and moments of her publicly speaking labeled “iconic.” Across the internet, supporters have resurfaced certain clips of Harris speaking and turned them into memes, such as her 2023 quote about her mother asking if young people think they “just fell out of a coconut tree,” her love of Venn diagrams, and her embracing of singer Charli XCX’s suggestion that she embodies the “brat” energy of her latest album.
The first video on Harris’ account, posted Thursday, references her TikTok popularity. Captioned, “Thought it was about time to join!” a voice can be heard saying, “Madam Vice President, are you on TikTok?” Harris replies, “Well, I’ve heard that recently I’ve been on the For You page so I thought I would get on here myself.”
@kamalaharris Thought it was about time to join!
Since it was posted, thousands of commenters have left messages of support and excitement, and made reference to “project coconut tree,” which is used by her supporters to reference her presidential campaign.
Twelve hours after the video was posted, she has amassed 1.3 million followers — edging close to her campaign account @KamalaHQ, which was launched as a Biden campaign account in February and had fewer than 500,000 followers when he withdrew on July 21, but now stands at 1.2 million.
Harris is still some way off from catching up with her opponent’s TikTok following — Donald Trump‘s account, launched in June, has 9.2 million followers, although reporting at the time suggests the accounts could be growing at a similar rate.
Harris’ decision to join TikTok comes after Biden signed a bill requiring the app’s parent company ByteDance to sell its interest in TikTok by January 2025 or face a nationwide ban, something Trump has opposed.
The company has said it will fight the bill and any potential ban.
In a March interview with ABC News, Harris stated, “We do not intend to ban TikTok.” She emphasized the need to address national security concerns while acknowledging the app’s significant benefits, such as providing income for creators and enabling free information sharing.
Do you have a story we should be covering? Do you have any questions about this article? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
