President-elect Donald Trump reportedly met with TikTok CEO Shou Chew on Monday afternoon at Mar-a-Lago as the social media company has requested the U.S. Supreme Court to issue an injunction after the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the law President Joe Biden signed earlier this year to ban TikTok in the United States in January unless the Chinese company ByteDance sells the app to an American company.
CNN cited a source familiar with Monday’s meeting between Trump and the TikTok CEO and reported that the meeting is believed to be the first between Trump and Chew since the president-elect’s election victory in November over Vice President Kamala Harris.
During a press conference on Monday morning, Trump spoke positively of TikTok, saying, “We’ll take a look at TikTok. You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points, and there are those that say that TikTok has something to do with that.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled earlier this month in favor of the U.S. government’s ability to ban TikTok due to national security concerns regarding China’s influence over the platform.
According to CNN, shortly before Monday’s meeting, TikTok filed an emergency application for injunction with the U.S. Supreme Court ahead of the TikTok ban, which is expected to take effect on January 19. The outlet noted that if ByteDance does not sell TikTok to an American company before January 19, U.S. app stores and internet services would risk facing major fines for hosting the social media app in the United States.
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In Monday’s court filing, TikTok’s lawyers argued that the ban “will shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration.” The court filing added, “This, in turn, will silence the speech of Applicants and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern.”
Monday’s court filing also referenced the president-elect’s supportive comments regarding TikTok, according to The Post Millennial. The social media company’s lawyers argued that it would be “appropriate” for the Supreme Court to pause the TikTok ban law to provide “the incoming administration time to determine its position, as the president-elect and his advisors have voiced support for saving” the social media app in the United States.
