On Monday, December 16, TikTok CEO Zhang Zhiping met with US President-elect Trump at Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Several American media outlets, including Bloomberg, CNN, and Newsweek, each cited sources confirming this private meeting.
At present, it is unclear what Trump and Zhang discussed, but it is widely believed that the conversation likely focused on the withdrawal order concerning TikTok. A TikTok spokesperson has not responded to requests for comments from various media.
Zhang Zhiping is one of several tech executives who have met with Trump before he took office.
Previously, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago the night before Thanksgiving. Last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook also met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Sources indicate that Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos is scheduled to meet with Trump on Tuesday evening.
While meeting with Trump, TikTok is making a final effort to urge the US Supreme Court to temporarily halt the withdrawal order so that the incoming Trump administration has time to “evaluate” the directive.
The legislation, known as the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversaries Act,” has been passed by Congress and signed by President Biden, requiring TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest from TikTok by January 19, 2025, or face a nationwide ban in the US.
It is currently uncertain whether the Supreme Court will intervene to delay the TikTok ban. If the Supreme Court does not intervene, Apple and Google will have to remove TikTok from their app stores or face hefty fines, effectively halting TikTok’s operations in the US.
Earlier on Monday, at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump expressed positive feelings towards TikTok and stated he would “consider” the ban next month when he takes office, without disclosing further details.
In 2020, Trump issued an executive order banning TikTok, but later reversed his stance on the app.
Earlier this year, due to concerns about the Chinese Communist Party using TikTok to undermine US national security, most US lawmakers supported the withdrawal order. They argued that requesting the Chinese parent company to divest was solely to protect American freedom of speech from foreign interference and to limit the Chinese Communist Party’s ability to collect data in the US.
The US Department of Justice also stated that “China (the CCP) continues to control the TikTok application, posing an ongoing threat to national security.”
However, TikTok, citing the First Amendment of the US Constitution, argues that the app should not be banned and has taken the case to the Supreme Court in hopes of preventing the ban from taking effect. TikTok also claims that the ban would disrupt the creator economy for many influencers who have built followers and revenue streams through social platforms.