President-elect Donald Trump is meeting with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on Monday ahead of a possible U.S. ban on the video app, a source familiar with the plans told NBC News.
Trump expressed having “a warm spot” for TikTok at a news conference earlier in the day, saying “we’ll take a look” at the app and a possible ban.
A federal law President Joe Biden signed this year would ban TikTok in the U.S. effective Jan. 19, unless its Chinese ownership agrees to divest its interest. TikTok asked the Supreme Court on Monday to block the law, which a federal appeals court upheld this month. Biden could also grant the app a one-time 90-day reprieve.
Trump is scheduled to be sworn in on Jan. 20, the day after the law is set to take effect.
Trump and Chew were scheduled to meet at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, the source said.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the planned meeting.
At his news conference Monday, Trump did not mention the meeting with Chew but said he thought his electoral victory was in part due to his use of TikTok. “I won youth by 34 points. And there are those that say that TikTok has something to do with that,” he said. Trump lost voters ages 18-29, according to a national exit poll.
Trump tried to ban TikTok in 2020, during his first term in the White House, but he was blocked by the courts. He changed his position this year, stunning some of his supporters but pleasing others, including Republican megadonor Jeff Yass, a major investor in TikTok.
Supporters of the ban include both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, and they argue that, because of TikTok’s Chinese ownership, it poses a threat to user privacy and to the information environment through the possible manipulation of content.
