President-elect Donald Trump is meeting with the TikTok CEO Shou Chew at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, a source familiar told ABC News.
The meeting comes after Trump said in a news conference on Monday that he has a “warm spot” in his heart for TikTok, crediting the app for helping him win over young voters in last month’s presidential election. CNN was the first to report on the meeting.
Trump originally tried to ban TikTok in his first administration, but has since reversed course, vowing on the campaign trail to “save” the app. It’s not clear how he would do so, given the legislation passed with strong bipartisan support and would require approval from both the House and Senate.
TikTok filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday seeking a temporary injunction that would delay the ban on the app from taking effect while the company seeks formal review by the justices.
Shou Chew, CEO of TikTok, testifies during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled “Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis,” Jan. 31, 2024.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
President Joe Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which was part of a massive, $95 billion foreign aid package passed by Congress, in April. As part of the act, TikTok, which has more than 170 million U.S. users, is forced to sell the company from its current Chinese-based owner ByteDance.
Biden and some congressional leaders argued that the ultimatum against TikTok was necessary because of security concerns about ByteDance and its connections to the Chinese government.
Lawmakers have warned Apple and Google to be ready to remove TikTok from their app stores on Jan. 19. They also wrote to TikTok’s CEO, urging him to look for a buyer.
“We urge TikTok to immediately execute a qualified divestiture,” they wrote.
Selling off TikTok from its Chinese parent would avoid the ban, but it would be an extremely complex and expensive transaction. Chinese officials have said they would block any sale of TikTok’s algorithm, which drives the app’s success.
In addition to his meeting with the TikTok CEO, Trump will also meet with Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos on Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago and is expected to meet with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Wednesday, two sources familiar with the plans told ABC News. The meeting with Bezos comes after a Wall Street Journal report that Amazon is planning to donate $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund.
-ABC News’ Rachel Scott and Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.