The chief govt of TikTok plans to attend President-elect Donald J. Trump’s inauguration and has been invited to sit down able of honor on the dais, the place former presidents, members of the family and different essential company historically are seated, two folks aware of the plans stated Wednesday.
The invitation to the chief, Shou Chew, went out from the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee, the folks stated, talking on the situation of anonymity to debate Monday’s inauguration. Mr. Chew will be part of tech moguls like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk on the occasion; Jeff Bezos has additionally been invited.
TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese language firm ByteDance, declined to remark.
Mr. Trump’s help for TikTok marks a surprising reversal from 2020, when he tried throughout his first time period to dam the app in america and drive its sale to American corporations. He warmed as much as the corporate final 12 months, significantly after he and his marketing campaign surged in reputation on TikTok throughout final 12 months’s election.
The Trump administration’s embrace of Mr. Chew is important because the app teeters on the point of demise in america. Congress handed a legislation final 12 months saying that ByteDance needed to promote TikTok to a non-Chinese language firm or face a ban in america as of Jan. 19, citing nationwide safety considerations. TikTok has been playing for the higher a part of a 12 months that it may possibly defeat the legislation in courts. Extra not too long ago, it has set its sights on aiming to achieve one other answer with the Trump administration to keep away from an outright sale. The Supreme Courtroom is ready to rule on the legislation within the coming days.
Mr. Trump has vowed to save lots of the app in america as soon as he’s inaugurated on Jan. 20, although his choices for doing so are restricted. Authorized consultants have stated that the realm the place Mr. Trump may more than likely intervene would contain part of the legislation that provides the president the authority to find out whether or not ByteDance has achieved sufficient to take away TikTok from Chinese language management.
Mr. Trump publicly changed his stance on TikTok final 12 months, quickly after he met with Jeff Yass, a Republican megadonor who owns a major share of ByteDance. Mr. Trump has stated they didn’t focus on the corporate. However Mr. Yass helped discovered the buying and selling agency Susquehanna Worldwide Group and is likely one of the largest supporters of the anti-tax lobbying group Membership for Development. It has employed folks with ties to Mr. Trump, akin to Kellyanne Conway, a former prime adviser to the incoming president, and the Republican adviser David City, to foyer for TikTok in Washington.
Mr. Trump has additionally repeatedly talked about how content material about him and his marketing campaign has carried out nicely on TikTok. His advisers noticed worth in participating with the location.
Mr. Trump met with TikTok executives on Dec. 16 at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort, based on an official aware of the matter. Across the time of that assembly, TikTok officers informed folks in Mr. Trump’s orbit, and presumably the president-elect himself, that Mr. Trump ought to be the one to determine TikTok’s destiny, based on two folks with information of the contacts between the 2 sides, who spoke on situation of anonymity. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Trump informed reporters that he had a “heat spot” for TikTok and that he would look into the problem.
