USA: Trump Meets with TikTok CEO
President-elect of the United States: “The social platform holds a special place in my heart”
US President-elect Donald Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Chew in Florida. The meeting took place at Trump’s private residence at Mar-a-Lago, weeks after the Chinese social media platform was banned in the USA. The TikTok shutdown is set to begin on January 19, 2025, the day before Trump’s inauguration.
After meeting with Shou Chew, Trump did not rule out his possible intervention in the matter, saying the platform holds “a special place in my heart.” The president-elect added that he “won over Kamala Harris by winning over 34% of young people” and that “there are those who think TikTok had something to do with it.”
In parallel to the talks with Trump, TikTok filed an emergency appeal to the US Supreme Court asking it to “delay the enactment of the law that would ban the platform nationwide unless Chinese company ByteDance agrees to hand over control of it.” The request submitted by the company asks the judges to suspend the enactment of the law approved by Congress: “This measure will lead to the suppression of one of the most popular platforms in the country on the eve of the inauguration of a new presidential administration,” the complaint reads, in which TikTok also says the law “will silence the voices of many US citizens who use the platform to talk about politics, commerce, art, and other topics of public interest.”
