US President-elect Donald Trump met with the CEO of TikTok on Monday as the social media giant battles US authorities’ plans for a ban.
Trump met Shou Zi Chew on Monday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, the BBC’s US affiliate CBS News reported, citing sources familiar with the meeting.
A law passed earlier this year means TikTok will be banned unless it is sold by its Chinese parent company ByteDance before January 19.
The company has filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the ban.
The US wants TikTok sold or banned because of alleged ties between ByteDance and the Chinese state, ties that both TikTok and ByteDance have always denied.
The bill introducing the law states that it aims to “protect the national security of the United States from the threat of applications controlled by foreign adversaries.”
Trump opposes the ban – although he supported it in his first term – on grounds, among other things, that it could help Facebook, which he has accused of contributing to his 2020 election defeat.
However, Trump’s second term does not begin until his inauguration on January 20, one day after the deadline set in the law.
In its petition filed with the Supreme Court on Monday, TikTok called for a “modest delay” in enforcing the ban to provide “leeway” for the court’s review and to allow the new administration to “evaluate this matter.” .
It described TikTok as “one of the most significant voice platforms” in the US and said the ban would cause “immediate irreparable harm” to the company and its users.
The company was reported to have submitted its offer earlier this month The lifted ban was rejected by the federal appeals court, which noted that the law was the “culmination of extensive, bipartisan action by Congress and successive presidents.”
At a press conference on Monday, Trump said his administration would “take a look at TikTok.”
“TikTok is close to my heart because I won the youth by 34 points,” he said.
“There are people who say TikTok has something to do with it. TikTok had an impact.”
A majority of 18- to 29-year-olds supported Trump’s Democratic opponent Kamala Harris in November, but since the 2020 election there has been a clear trend toward Trump among young voters.
Trump I just joined TikTok in Junebut gained millions of followers on the platform over the course of the campaign.
