Taylor Swift’s “August” is now unavailable on Trump-linked TikTok

TikTok has replaced the audio on a video linked to Donald Trump with a muted version. The track, which reports identified as Taylor Swift’s “August,” is no longer playable. In its place, TikTok now displays a notice saying the sound is unavailable because of the copyright owner’s settings.

TikTok Download

Reports said the post showed Donald Trump and Melania Trump watching fireworks, alongside messaging tied to August and Trump being president. It also seemed to suggest that Taylor Swift would have something to say about it, which is why a lot of people took the post as a deliberate jab. So far, Taylor Swift’s team hasn’t said anything publicly. Neither has the Trump campaign or the White House. That leaves the basic question unanswered: were the proper permissions never in place, or did TikTok’s rights system catch the song on its own, or through a manual flag?

This isn’t the first time something like this has happened on political TikTok. Accounts tied to Donald Trump have used Taylor Swift songs before, including “Red,” and some of those posts later lost their audio as well. The tension around it is hard to miss given that Swift has supported Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, while Trump has gone after her repeatedly. The post is still up on TikTok. The Taylor Swift song isn’t.

Spotify Download