TikTok CEO joins Trump’s inauguration with app’s future in doubt

WASHINGTON – TikTok chief executive Chew Shou Zi attended

President Donald Trump’s inaugural events

in Washington, appearing at a church service before the swearing-in ceremony as his popular video-sharing app faces the threat of a nationwide ban.

Mr Trump has said

he hopes to preserve TikTok

, which was the subject of a national security law signed in April 2024 by then President Joe Biden because of concerns raised by Chinese ownership.

He has promised to sign an executive order granting the app more time to find a new owner, which was a requirement under the law.

It is still unclear whether Mr Trump has the legal power to grant an extension, but he recently praised the app for helping him reach young voters during the election. 

Mr Trump proposed on Truth Social over the weekend that the US and TikTok’s parent ByteDance form a “joint venture” to keep the app operating.

“I would like the United States to have a 50 per cent ownership position in a joint venture,” he wrote. “By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up.”

Mr Chew’s appearance at the inauguration ceremony is a sign that TikTok and its Chinese parent company still see a chance for the app to get a reprieve from the ban.

Both companies and content creators who use the app for their livelihoods sued the US government over the law and brought their arguments before the Supreme Court in early January, though the justices ultimately upheld the law. 

Under the US law, passed in 2024 with bipartisan support, ByteDance had until Jan 19, the day before the inauguration, to arrange a sale of its US TikTok business or face a ban.

ByteDance has said it does not intend to sell the app. TikTok’s US business is valued at an estimated US$40 billion (S$54.4 billion) to US$50 billion.

Mr Chew’s relationship with Mr Trump could be key to the app’s survival.

After TikTok temporarily went dark in the US over the weekend, the app returned on Jan 19 following Mr Trump’s pledge that he would not enforce the law.

The law forbids tech giants such as Apple, Alphabet’s Google and Oracle from carrying TikTok in their respective app stores or providing the app with necessary cloud and infrastructure support. 

“Thanks for your patience and support,” TikTok wrote to users in an in-app notification on Jan 19. “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the US!”

Mr Chew, who also

visited Mr Trump as his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida

in December, was not the only significant tech executive at the Washington events.

Billionaire Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a close Trump adviser, was also in attendance, as was Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon.com co-founder Jeff Bezos as well as Alphabet’s CEO Sundar Pichai. BLOOMBERG