TikTok CEO Shou Chew will reportedly join Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos as guests of honor at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration—just one day after the embattled app is slated to go dark across the U.S.
TikTok, the Chinese-owned video app beloved by its 170 million American users, has existed in a state of legal and political limbo for months. Trump tried to ban the app by executive order during his first term, but the effort fizzled out in court. Later, citing continued national security concerns, Congress passed a similar law that required TikTok’s corporate parent, the tech firm Bytedance, to divest its American operations to a non-Chinese owner or face removal from American app stores. The deadline for that divestiture is now mere days away, and TikTok has—as of this writing—secured neither the Supreme Court decision nor the eleventh-hour deal that would keep it widely available.
But that’s not for lack of trying—on the part of TikTok or American policymakers. Ironically, after fighting so hard to ban the app, both Trump and departing President Joe Biden now seem faintly desperate to keep it operational. On Wednesday night, NBC reported that the Biden administration is “exploring options” for implementing a federal law that will make TikTok available beyond Sunday’s deadline, though it’s unclear precisely what form that could take. Trump, meanwhile, is reportedly considering an executive order that would suspend enforcement of the ban for two to three months, giving him time to help broker a sale or find some other solution.
Such an order would represent a stark reversal for Trump, who spent years demonizing the short-form video app and its corporate parent. During the 2020 election season, his campaign ran Facebook ads that claimed “TikTok is spying on you” and floated a ban as a way to punish China for the Covid-19 pandemic. But the president-elect reportedly warmed to TikTok after meeting with one of ByteDance’s largest investors, the Republican mega-donor Jeff Yass, and seeing his 2024 campaign perform well on the app.
Chew’s big-ticket invite to Monday’s inauguration is just the latest sign of Trump’s growing fondness: The New York Times reports that the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee invited Chew personally, and that he—like Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos—is expected to sit with former presidents, Cabinet picks, and other dignitaries on the inaugural dais itself.
Should Trump fail to delay the ban, others are also seeking a solution that would keep TikTok online. Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese government officials were considering an overture to Musk, a claim TikTok has denied. Meanwhile, a number of American investors and entrepreneurs—including the YouTube juggernaut Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast—have said they’re making offers to acquire TikTok’s U.S. arm. But the clock is obviously ticking on any potential deal that could avert a shutdown.
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