TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew is planning to attend President-elect Trump’s inauguration on Monday – even as the Chinese-owned company makes a last-ditch effort to avoid a US ban.
Chew is expected to sit alongside tech titans like Elon Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos during the inauguration, a source familiar with the situation told The Post.
The TikTok boss also visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida last month as part of his bid to avoid a ban.
Representatives for TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The New York Times was the first to report on Chew’s plans.
TikTok is reportedly planning to shut down the app entirely on Sunday, when a Congressional deadline for Chinese parent ByteDance to divest its stake passes. Users will be redirected to a website with details on the ban.
Trump — once a vocal critic of TikTok who initially led efforts to block the app — has recently said he opposes a ban.
The president-elect is weighing options to “rescue” the app, including the possible implementation of an executive order after taking office that would prevent enforcement of the law for 60 to 90 days, the Washington Post reported. It is currently unclear whether he would have the legal basis to do so.
The Supreme Court could also intervene on TikTok’s behalf, but has so far signaled support for the law. During oral arguments last week, all nine justices said the national security concerns outlined by the feds outweigh any risks to free speech.
Members of Congress and the Justice Department allege that TikTok is a major national security threat subject to the directives of the Chinese Communist Party, capable of covertly manipulating content through its recommendation algorithm and conducting mass data collection as location tracking, among other risks.
TikTok has denied wrongdoing and claims the law violates the First Amendment.
In a memo to staff on Tuesday, TikTok management assured US employees that they would keep their jobs even if there was a national ban.
“I want to reinforce that as a US employee, your employment, pay and benefits are secure and our offices will remain open, even if this situation is not resolved by the January 19 deadline,” the memo said. at The Verge.
“The bill is not written in a way that affects the entities through which you are employed, only the US user experience,” the memo added.
TikTok’s plan to shut down the app entirely goes beyond the scope of the sales law — which requires app store operators like Google and Apple to ban new downloads.
Otherwise, the application would have remained usable for some time, although it would gradually degrade because developers would not be able to implement updates.
As The Post reported, “refugees despised by TikTok” have flocked to an alternative China-based app called RedNote, which experts warn poses even greater risks for American users.
The app’s name in China, Xiaohongshu, translates to “little red book” — a reference to the infamous propaganda pamphlets full of quotes from Communist China’s founder Mao Zedong.
#TikTok #CEO #plans #attend #Trump #inauguration #presidentelect #weighs #options #save #app #ahead #ban
Image Source : nypost.com