TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi plans to attend Trump inauguration

WASHINGTON - The chief executive of TikTok plans to attend

US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration

and has been invited to sit in a position of honour on the dais, where former presidents, family members and other important guests traditionally are seated, two people familiar with the plans said on Jan 15.

The invitation to CEO Chew Shou Zi went out from the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the inauguration on Jan 20. Mr Chew will join

tech moguls including Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk

at the event; Mr Jeff Bezos has also been invited.

TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, declined to comment.

Trump’s support for TikTok ​marks ​a stunning reversal from 2020, when he tried during his first term to block the app in the US and force its sale to American companies​. He warmed up to the company in 2024, particularly after he and his campaign surged in popularity on TikTok during 2024’s election.

The Trump administration’s embrace of Mr Chew is significant as the app teeters on the brink of death in the US.

Congress passed a law in 2024

saying that ByteDance had to sell TikTok to a non-Chinese company or face a ban in the US as at Jan 19, citing national security concerns.

TikTok has been gambling for the better part of a year that it can defeat the law in courts. More recently, it has set its sights on aiming to reach another solution with the Trump administration to avoid an outright sale.

The Supreme Court is set to rule on the law in the coming days.

Trump has vowed to save the app in the US once he is inaugurated on Jan 20, though his options for doing so are limited.

Legal experts have said that the area where Trump could most likely intervene would involve a part of the law that gives the president the authority to determine whether ByteDance has done enough to remove TikTok from Chinese control.

Trump publicly ​c​hanged his stance on TikTok in 2024, soon after he met Mr Jeff Yass, a Republican megadonor who owns a significant share of ByteDance.​

Trump has said they did not discuss the company. But Mr Yass helped found the trading firm Susquehanna International Group and ​is one of the biggest supporters of the anti-tax lobbying group Club for Growth​.​ It ​​has hired people with ties to Trump, such as Ms Kellyanne Conway, a former top adviser to the incoming president, and Republican adviser David Urban, to lobby for TikTok in Washington.

Trump has also repeatedly talked about how content about him and his campaign has performed well on TikTok.

His advisers saw value in engaging with the site.

Trump met TikTok executives

on Dec 16 at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort, according to an official familiar with the matter.

Around the time of that meeting, TikTok officials told people in Trump’s orbit, and possibly the President-elect himself, that Trump should be the one to decide TikTok’s fate, according to two people with knowledge of the contacts between the two sides, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Shortly thereafter, Trump told reporters that he had a “warm spot” for TikTok and that he would look into the issue. NYTIMES