Trump claims to be 'number one' on TikTok. What does that mean?

President Donald Trump touted that he's "number one" on TikTok multiple times this week. 

"The new numbers just came out," Trump told reporters at the White House Monday. "You know who the number one person on TikTok is by far? Trump. Me," he said. The president added that he surpassed Taylor Swift, who he said was "number 11" on the social media app. 

As of July 9, Trump has 16.7 million followers on TikTok. Taylor Swift has a little over double Trump's TikTok following, sitting at 33.5 million followers as of July 9. 

The most followed person on the app is Khabane Lame, a Senegalese influencer known for his comedic skits. Lame has 162.3 million followers on the video-sharing platform. That's nearly 10 times Trump's following.

After Lame, the second most followed person on TikTok is 22-year-old Charli D'Amelio who rose to fame in late 2019 after her dance videos started going viral. She has 159.2 million followers. 

"I was number one," Trump said at the NATO summit Wednesday. "All these entertainers, they're number 27, 29, it's crazy. I don't even understand myself, but it means my word's getting out."

A Sunday Truth Social post adds some clarity to Trump's claims. Trump posted a message from TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew saying the president was the number one most followed world leader on the app. 

When asked for a comment on the discrepancy, the White House referred to a second Truth Social post where Trump re-posted the original one.

Trump does have the most followers out of the world leaders on the app, a CNBC analysis found. After him are El Salvador's Nayib Bukele with 12.9 million followers, Mexico's Claudia Sheinbaum with 9.3 million followers and France's Emmanuel Macron with 7.3 million followers. 

Many world leaders do not have TikTok accounts, including China's Xi Jinping, Russia's Vladimir Putin and many heads of Middle Eastern countries. Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has amassed 1.5 million followers on the social platform.  

On the other side of the aisle, former Vice President Kamala Harris who ran against Trump in the 2024 presidential election, has 10.1 million followers on the app. Former Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden don't have official accounts.

Trump's TikTok content mostly consists of short videos of him sitting in the Oval Office speaking to the audience directly about various presidential priorities, announcements and initiatives. 

Some videos appear to be more lighthearted than others, with one from May 26 explaining why he chose to nickname Democrats as "Dumocrats."

"It's only a one-letter change," he said in the video. "They're really like dumb people."

Another video from May depicts the president grabbing late night television host Stephen Colbert and throwing him into a Dumpster onstage before dancing to Village People's hit song, "Y.M.C.A."

He said at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey, this week that he uses the platform to talk about the success of the U.S. and "how bad Communism is."

On other social media platforms, like X, the president has amassed 111.7 million followers. He has 44 million followers on Instagram and 12.9 million on Truth Social.