Among the long list of attendees expected at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration is TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, as The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Chew will join other tech executives like Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk at the event.
TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance and headquartered in Beijing, could be banned in the U.S. as early as Jan. 19.
Despite attempting to ban the app during his first term, Trump has since indicated he likes the app, and has also credited it with helping him win the 2024 presidential election. He also campaigned on a promise to retain TikTok for the millions of Americans who use the platform.
The Washington Post reported that he is considering an executive order to allow TikTok to be accessible to the 170 million American users for a period of time until the Trump administration decides who would buy it. But, as Forbes reported, it’s unclear whether Trump could undo a bipartisan law passed by Congress, and potentially reaffirmed by the Supreme Court.
Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, nominated to lead the National Security Council, said in an interview on Fox News Wednesday that the president-elect would find a way keep TikTok around.
“If the Supreme Court comes out with a ruling in favor of the law, President Trump has been very clear: Number one, TikTok is a great platform that many Americans use and has been great for his campaign and getting his message out. But number two, he’s going to protect their data,” Waltz said.
“He’s a deal maker. I don’t want to get ahead of our executive orders, but we’re going to create this space to put that deal in place,” he added.
In April, Congress passed and Biden signed a bill that will require app stores to remove TikTok on Jan. 19 if it’s not sold by then. Lawmakers sited national security concerns at the time, given TikTok’s ownership.
As the Deseret News reported, the Supreme Court is expected to issue its ruling before Jan. 19, despite its supporters suggesting that the justices should instead temporarily postpone the ban to give Trump, who will take office on Jan. 20, time to resolve the dispute.
President Joe Biden during his farewell address Wednesday warned against the “tech industrial complex.”
“Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation enabling the abuse of power,” Biden said. “The free press is crumbling. Errors are disappearing. Social media is giving up on fact checking. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit.”