TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew met Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, according to two people familiar with the matter, as the popular video app pins its hopes on the president-elect saving it from a looming US ban.
The ByteDance-owned app is expected to be banned for the company’s 170mn US users if it does not divest from its Chinese parent under a law that comes into force on January 19, the day before Trump’s inauguration as president.
The private meeting between the pair comes as TikTok’s attempts to fight the ban in court have thus far fallen short. A US appeals court rejected a challenge to the law and subsequent request to halt it while the company escalates its challenge to the Supreme Court.