In a surprising move, former President Donald Trump's campaign has launched an official account on the popular social media platform TikTok, despite previous concerns about its national security implications. The debut of Trump's TikTok account, under the handle "@realdonaldtrump," comes at a time when the platform is facing a potential ban in the United States.

In his first TikTok post, Trump expressed his excitement, saying, "It's my honor," accompanied by a video montage of him waving to crowds at a Saturday Ultimate Fighting Championship show. Within just 10 hours of going online, the post garnered an impressive 1.5 million likes, signaling a strong following for the former president within the TikTok community.

However, Trump's foray into TikTok comes as his own social media company, Trump Media, faces financial challenges. Following his legal conviction on 34 felony counts in his Manhattan hush money trial, Trump Media's stock, traded under the DJT ticker, took a 5% hit at market close on Friday. Shares were priced at $49, down from an even greater decline of approximately 15% immediately after the conviction.

Trump Media launched Truth Social, an alternative "non-woke" social media platform, earlier this year after Trump's banishment from popular sites like Twitter and Facebook in the aftermath of the January 6 Capitol riots. As the parent company of Truth Social, Trump Media went public, and Trump currently holds a 65% stake in the company.

Although Trump's TikTok debut was relatively late compared to his Democratic opponent, President Joe Biden, who launched his TikTok account in February, the former president quickly gained a significant following, with 2 million followers already. This surpasses the Biden campaign's nearly 340,000 followers on the platform.

Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt asserted that joining TikTok was part of their strategy to reach young voters and to counter the efforts of the Biden campaign. The campaign aims to spread Trump's "winning message" to as many voters as possible, refusing to cede any ground to the Democrats.

It is worth noting that both candidates, despite having raised national security concerns about TikTok in the past, have now embraced the platform. President Biden even signed a law in April that called for TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app, or else it could face a national ban in the U.S.

While Trump has changed his stance on banning TikTok, he still expresses skepticism about its potential national security risks. In a March interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box," he reiterated his belief that TikTok could threaten U.S. national security.

As Trump's campaign expands its presence on TikTok, it remains to be seen how this move will impact his overall online presence and the success of his social media company, Trump Media, in the face of legal challenges and a potential ban of the platform in the United States.