As TikTok faces the increasing possibility of going dark on Sunday (19 Jan), its Chief Executive Chew Shou Zi has released a statement thanking United States President-elect Donald Trump.
In a TikTok video posted on Friday (17 Jan), the Singaporean expressed his appreciation to Mr Trump for “his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available” in the US.
Source: @tiktok on TikTok
The effort is a “strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship”, Mr Chew said.
TikTok is “grateful and pleased” to have the support of “a President who truly understands our platform”, he added.
He noted that Mr Trump had used TikTok to express his thoughts and perspectives, generating more than 60 billion views of his content.
Source: Donald J. Trump on Facebook
TikTok has been “fighting to protect the constitutional right to free speech” for the more than 170 million Americans who use it, Mr Chew said, vowing to do “everything in our power” to ensure the app thrives.
Mr Chew will reportedly attend Mr Trump’s inauguration on Monday (20 Jan), reported The New York Times (NYT).
Unnamed sources told the NYT that the TikTok CEO was invited by the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee.
He will sit on the dais, a prominent position where former presidents and family members are usually seated.
Other tech executives will join him there, including Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Tesla head honcho Elon Musk.
Mr Chew’s attendance may come as his app goes dark in the US.
A TikTok statement quoted by Reuters on Saturday (18 Jan) said the app would be forced to go dark on Sunday “unless the Biden administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement”.
Source: Solen Feyissa on Unsplash
Tech companies like Apple and Google could be fined if they provide services to TikTok after the ban takes effect.
However, the White House said in a statement that due to the timing, “actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next administration”, i.e. Mr Trump’s.
The final blow to preventing TikTok from going dark in the US might have come on Friday (17 Jan) when the US Supreme Court upheld the ban in a unanimous decision.
The Court ruled that the ban did not violate the US Constitution’s First Amendment protection against government abridgement of free speech, meaning that it would take effect on 19 Jan unless its Chinese parent company ByteDance sold it.
In response to the decision, Mr Trump simply posted on his social media platform Truth Social that it was “expected”.
Source: Donald J. Trump on Truth Social
However, he told followers to “stay tuned” as his decision on TikTok would be made in the “not too distant future”.
Also read: Xiaohongshu tops App Store charts in US amid concerns over TikTok ban
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image adapted from @tiktok on TikTok and Donald J. Trump on Facebook.
Part of its space will become a café.
She raised her three children single-handedly after her husband died when she was 40.
Cathay's latest closure comes after a slew of closures in the last few years.
He represented clients 32 times over more than two months after his certificate had expired.
Netizens have dubbed the saviour "Mask Heroine" and "Cheongsam Angel".
A netizen claimed that bendy buses would be gone within 3 years and urged others…