Fact Check: Did Taylor Swift remove her song 'August' from Trump’s TikTok fireworks video?

WASHINGTON, DC: A claim is going viral online that Taylor Swift removed the audio of her song 'August' from a TikTok posted by Donald Trump’s team.

Swift fans on X quickly celebrated the song’s removal, calling it a subtle response to Trump without a public statement. Let’s fact-check the claim and find out what happened.

Claim: Taylor Swift removed her song ‘August’ from a Team Trump video

According to the X user@mclr4n, Taylor Swift removed her song 'August' from a TikTok video posted by Team Trump. The X post shared by saying, "taylor's team removed the song from trump's post on tiktok. When the truth comes out, it's quiet :)."

For context, the Trump campaign posted a TikTok video that used Swift’s song 'August.' The caption said, “I’m sure @Taylor Swift is going to be super excited we used her song! #taylorswift #maga #august.”

The video showed Donald and Melania Trump standing on a balcony and watching fireworks. It also included the text, “Mood because it’s August and Donald Trump is your president.”

Fans noticed Friday evening, August 7, that the song had been removed from the TikTok. In the US version of the app, the video displayed a message saying, “The copyright owner hasn’t made this sound available in your country.”

The @TeamTrump TikTok account has about 14 million followers. The account launched before the 2024 US presidential election and has continued to post videos since Trump won a second term.

Fact Check: True

The claim is true. Taylor Swift or the rights holders for her music removed or muted the audio of her song 'August' from a TikTok video posted by the Team Trump account. The song appeared on Swift’s 2020 album 'Folklore.'

This is not the first time Team Trump has used Swift’s music in its videos. A Team Trump video posted on November 6, 2025, that used Swift’s song 'Father Figure' also had its audio removed.

However, another video posted a day ago using a version of Swift’s 'Red' still had the audio available at the time of writing.

Trump and Swift have also clashed publicly over politics. In September 2024, Trump posted “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” after Swift said on Instagram that she planned to vote for Kamala Harris for president.

Swift wrote, “I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.”

A month earlier, Trump had shared AI-generated images that falsely suggested Swift supported his presidential campaign. One image showed Swift as Uncle Sam with the message, “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump.”

Trump later told Fox Business that he was not worried about Swift suing him over the fake images. He said they “were all made up by other people.”