TikTok CEO flatters Trump ahead of US ban deadline

TikTok CEO flatters Trump ahead of US ban deadline

In his first statement since the Supreme Court on Sunday upheld a law banning TikTok in the US, TikTok CEO Shu Zi Chew offered no details about what will happen to the app in just a few days. Instead, he took the opportunity to appeal to President-elect Donald Trump.

"I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to working closely with us to keep TikTok available in the United States," Chew said in a video on the platform. "We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a president who truly understands our platform — who has used TikTok to express his ideas and perspectives, connect with the world, and generate more than 60 billion views of his content in the process."

In discussing Trump's TikTok views, Chew is speaking his language. After all, the incoming president is famous for keeping a close eye on his TV ratings, and recently announced he has a "warm spot" in his mind for TikTok after seeing the way the platform played a role in his campaign. This is TikTok's most public effort to appease Trump before he takes over the Oval Office on Monday (a day after the ban went into effect), but Chew has already met with him at Mar-a-Lago and plans to attend his inauguration along with several other tech CEOs.

Trump has previously announced his intention to save TikTok, but he hasn't said how he would do so. After the Supreme Court's decision on Friday, he asked the public to "respect it" and said, "My decision on TikTok will be in the not too distant future, but I need time to review the situation." Earlier on Friday he said he had spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping about TikTok, calling it a "very good" decision, among other things.

Chew's statement seems to suggest that TikTok now believes that appealing to Trump is the most promising path to remain viable in the US. Still, Trump's options are somewhat limited. The most effective way, if he can achieve it, would be to somehow strike a deal to sell TikTok to ByteDance (with China's permission) and comply with the law's divestment requirements. Otherwise, he could instruct his Justice Department not to enforce the ban, possibly through an executive order - but that might not be enough to reassure companies like Apple, Google and Oracle that they won't risk severe penalties by continuing to provide service for TikTok.

Meanwhile, we still don't know how TikTok itself will handle the impending ban, which will take effect the day before Trump is sworn in. The company is reportedly planning to shut down in the US in that case. “Rest assured, we will do everything in our power to ensure that our platform thrives as your online home for limitless creativity and discovery, as well as a source of inspiration and joy for years to come,” says Chew. “There’s still more to come.”