Dec. 17 (UPI) — TikTok CEO Shou Chew met with President-elect Donald Trump as the social media app also looks to fight a law that would force its sale or have it face a ban in the Supreme Court.
The arranged meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida was the first between Trump and Chew since his election win in November, a person familiar with the meeting told CNN, which first reported the news.
Meanwhile, TikTok on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up its appeal of the law approved by President Joe Biden that would set a deadline for the divestment or ban on Jan. 19 — a day before Trump’s inauguration.
In its request to the Supreme Court, TikTok’s attorneys said a ban of the widely used platform would affect residents from around the country.
“The act will shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration,” TikTok said. “This in turn will silence the speech of applicants and many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern.”
The law allows for the president to issue a one-time extension on the deadline, which would impose steep fines on app stores and internet services in the United States that continue to host TikTok.
Earlier on Monday Trump told reporters that he would “take a look at TikTok” upon taking office.
“You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” Trump said, citing his performance among younger voters in November’s election.
Trump joined the platform in June, quickly amassing millions of followers, after he had worked toward a ban of the platform, setting a deadline for TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance and Microsoft to work out a deal after signing executive orders that banned transactions with ByteDance and Tencent Holdings Ltd., parent company of the WeChat app.
