Trump meets with TikTok CEO at Mar-a-Lago as ban on app looms

TikTok CEO Shou Chew met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, a person familiar with the meeting told CNN, as the company seeks the intervention of the Supreme Court in its battle with the federal government. On Dec. 6 the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the federal government’s ban on TikTok over concerns with national security. To avoid the ban of the app, Chinese company ByteDance is required to divest from the social media platform.

The Trump-Chew meeting is reportedly the first time the two have talked in person since Trump won the presidency on Nov. 5. Chew has reportedly been hoping to land some time with the President-elect, who has been meeting with other big tech executives at Mat-a-Lago. TikTok has petitioned the Supreme Court to rule on a ban that can only be lifted if the social media platform is sold to a non-Chinese owner.

TikTok sued the federal government over the ban, arguing that it was a violation of free speech. The ban was passed in Congress with bipartisan support earlier this year and signed into law by President Joe Biden signed it into law in April. TikTok is approaching the Supreme Court as a last-ditch attempt to avert the legislation that comes into effect one day before Trump is inaugurated.

Attorneys for TikTok are hoping the Supreme Court will halt the ban until the company has a chance to prepare arguments against it. If the court agrees, TikTok would at least have some breathing space until after Trump becomes president and could conceivably work towards a more amicable solution with the new Trump administration.

The ban “will shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration,” TikTok’s lawyers maintain. “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.”

The attorneys are hoping the Supreme Court rules on their emergency application by Jan. 6 in order to furnish TikTok with the opportunity “to coordinate with their service providers to perform the complex task of shutting down the TikTok platform only in the United States.”

In their petition to the high court, TikTok’s lawyers did not hesitate to mention Trump’s supportive remarks about their client and said it would be “appropriate” to halt the law in order to give “the incoming administration time to determine its position, as the president-elect and his advisors have voiced support for saving” TikTok.

In its Dec. 6 ruling, the DC Circuit Court did not concur with TikTok’s belief that the federal ban infringes upon free speech or defies the US Constitution.