Islamabad: Amid a looming US ban on TikTok, US President-elect Donald Trump met the popular app’s CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
The development comes hot on the heels of the US Supreme Court’s decision to hear TikTok’s appeal of a law that would force its Chinese owner to sell the online video-sharing platform.
A law passed earlier this year means TikTok will be banned unless it is sold by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, before 19 January.
The BBC reported that the company filed an emergency application with the US Supreme Court to delay the ban.
In the face of US allegations, TikTok and ByteDance have always denied links with the Chinese state.
US fears
The bill introducing the law said it was intended to “protect the national security of the United States from the threat posed by foreign adversary-controlled applications”.
Trump opposes the ban – despite supporting one during his first term – partly on the grounds that it could help Facebook, which he has accused of aiding his 2020 election loss, according to BBC.
“Soft spot”
Trump’s second term, however, won’t begin until he is inaugurated on 20 January, the day after the deadline set out in the law, it added.
In its filing to the Supreme Court, submitted on Monday, TikTok asked for a “modest delay” to the enforcement of the ban to “create breathing room” for a review by the Court and to allow the incoming administration to “evaluate this matter”.
It described TikTok as “one of the most significant speech platforms” in the US and said the ban would do “immediate irreparable harm” to the company and its users.
Earlier this month, the company’s bid to have the ban overturned was rejected by the federal appeals court, which found that the law was the “culmination of extensive, bipartisan action by the Congress and by successive presidents”.
At a press conference on Monday, Trump said his administration would “take a look at TikTok”.
“I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok, because I won youth by 34 points,” Trump said.
“There are those that say that TikTok has something to do with that. TikTok had an impact.”
TikTok’s impact
A majority of 18 to 29-year-olds backed Trump’s Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, in November, but the vote did see a significant swing towards Trump among young voters since the 2020 election.
Trump only joined TikTok in June but gained millions of followers on the platform over the course of the campaign.
