TikTok CEO to attend Trump’s inauguration: US media

The CEO of social media company TikTok will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, according to US media, as the president-elect appears to consider sparing the app from a potential ban on US operations.

Shou Chew is expected to attend the January 20 event with many other high-profile social media and internet moguls, including Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, X, and SpaceX, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg of Meta.

Chew’s attendance, as reported by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, comes just after the US Supreme Court is likely to decide on whether to prohibit the firm from functioning in the United States.

TikTok did not reply to a request for comments. Last year, Congress enacted a bill requiring TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell or shutdown the site by Sunday, and the measure is expected to stand.

To carry out such a ban, the US government would instruct Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores, barring new downloads beginning the day before Trump takes office.

TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco indicated that if the justices do not overturn the prohibition, the site will “go dark” on Sunday, and a media source claimed that the business was considering a complete suspension of operations in the United States.

According to the Washington Post, Trump promised to save TikTok during the campaign and has been considering methods to delay the ban or save the app.

Once Trump enters office, the law’s execution will be left to his attorney general, who may choose not to enforce it or stall, violating Congress’s overwhelming support for the act.

On Thursday, Trump’s new national security adviser, Mike Waltz, told Fox News that the government will implement measures “to keep TikTok from going dark.”

“The legislation allows for an extension as long as a viable deal is on the table,” he told reporters. “Essentially that buys president Trump time to keep TikTok going.”

“It’s been a great platform for him and his campaign to get his America first message out,” the politician said. “But at the same time, he wants to protect (users’) data.”