Media coverage and official reports from the inauguration

TikTok CEO Shou Chew to Attend Trump's Inauguration as ByteDance Faces Potential Ban

Jan 16, 2025, 05:28 AM

Shou Chew, the CEO of TikTok, plans to attend President-elect Donald J. Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2025, after receiving an invitation from the Trump Vance Inaugural Committee. Chew will be seated in a position of honor on the dais, alongside other tech moguls such as Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos. This invitation comes at a critical time for TikTok, as the company faces a potential ban in the United States due to national security concerns related to its ownership by the Chinese company ByteDance. Congress passed a law requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok to a non-Chinese entity by January 19, 2025, or face a ban. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on this law soon, and Trump has expressed intentions to intervene to save the app upon taking office, despite his previous attempts to block it during his first term. Trump, who has 14 million followers on TikTok, is reportedly considering issuing an executive order to delay the ban for 60 to 90 days.