Macron goes on TikTok for school leavers

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday used the wildly popular social media app TikTok for the first time to congratulate French school leavers after their exam results.

“The first thing to say is bravo, congratulations, it is the fruit of your work,” said Macron in a video filmed in the garden of the Elysee Palace.

But he also told the teenage viewers they belonged to a “generation which we are calling sometimes the world after,” referring to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said that the new generation must create a world that is “stronger, shows more solidarity and is more ecological.

“It is not me who will decide your future, it is you.”

TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, has over the last months become a global sensation with its short videos.