TikTok CEO attending Trump inauguration

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will attend President-elect Trump's inauguration next week, one day after a potential ban of the video sharing platform could take effect in the U.S., according to a source familiar with the plans.

Chew joins a growing list of technology executives expected to attend the inauguration as they seek to court Trump as he heads back to the Oval Office. Trump ally and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos are among the tech leaders reportedly expected at the event Monday.

The inauguration will take place one day after a ban on TikTok could take effect on Sunday if the platform's Chinese parent company ByteDance does not sell the app or the Supreme Court stops the divest-or-ban law from being implemented.

The ban, which passed Congress with a wide bipartisan majority and was signed by President Biden last April, gave TikTok until Jan. 19 to either divest from ByteDance, or face a ban in the U.S.

TikTok has not publicly announced what users could expect on Sunday should the ban go into effect, though a report from The Information on Tuesday claimed the company intends to immediately shut off its app for U.S. users if the ban goes through.

The Supreme Court took up TikTok’s challenge to the law on an expedited timeline and heard oral arguments last week. The justices signaled sympathy with the government’s national security concerns about ByteDance but have yet to issue an opinion on the matter.

Trump, for his part, has offered praise for the platform and his incoming national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said Wednesday the president-elect intends to take action to preserve TikTok once back in office.

“TikTok itself is a fantastic platform,” Waltz told Fox News. “I wish I could have it on my phone. The algorithm is amazing. We’re going to find a way to preserve it but protect people’s data. And that’s the deal that will be in front of us.”

Waltz appeared on Fox News's “Special Report” with Bret Baier shortly after The Washington Post reported Trump was considering different options to save TikTok in the face of a looming ban, including via an executive order.

Chew met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. last month

TikTok did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment.

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