President-elect Donald Trump is assembly with the TikTok CEO Shou Chew at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, a supply acquainted informed ABC Information.
The assembly comes after Trump stated in a information convention on Monday that he has a “heat spot” in his coronary heart for TikTok, crediting the app for serving to him win over younger voters in final month’s presidential election. CNN was the primary to report on the assembly.
Trump initially tried to ban TikTok in his first administration, however has since reversed course, vowing on the marketing campaign path to “save” the app. It’s not clear how he would accomplish that, given the laws handed with sturdy bipartisan assist and would require approval from each the Home and Senate.
TikTok filed an emergency utility with the U.S. Supreme Court docket on Monday searching for a brief injunction that may delay the ban on the app from taking impact whereas the corporate seeks formal evaluation by the justices.
Shou Chew, CEO of TikTok, testifies through the Senate Judiciary Committee listening to titled “Large Tech and the On-line Baby Sexual Exploitation Disaster,” Jan. 31, 2024.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Name by way of Getty Pictures
President Joe Biden signed the Defending People from Overseas Adversary Managed Purposes Act, which was a part of an enormous, $95 billion overseas support package deal handed by Congress, in April. As a part of the act, TikTok, which has greater than 170 million U.S. customers, is pressured to promote the corporate from its present Chinese language-based proprietor ByteDance.
Biden and a few congressional leaders argued that the ultimatum in opposition to TikTok was mandatory due to safety issues about ByteDance and its connections to the Chinese language authorities.
Lawmakers have warned Apple and Google to be able to take away TikTok from their app shops on Jan. 19. Additionally they wrote to TikTok’s CEO, urging him to search for a purchaser.
“We urge TikTok to instantly execute a certified divestiture,” they wrote.
Promoting off TikTok from its Chinese language dad or mum would keep away from the ban, however it will be a particularly complicated and costly transaction. Chinese language officers have stated they might block any sale of TikTok’s algorithm, which drives the app’s success.
Along with his assembly with the TikTok CEO, Trump may also meet with Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos on Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago and is anticipated to fulfill with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Wednesday, two sources accustomed to the plans informed ABC Information. The assembly with Bezos comes after a Wall Road Journal report that Amazon is planning to donate $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund.
-ABC Information’ Rachel Scott and Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.
