STORY: :: TikTok's CEO thanks President-elect Donald Trump for backing its U.S. operations
:: January 17, 2025
:: TikTok via Tiktok
:: Shou Zi Chew, TikTok CEO
"Hi everyone. It's Shou here. As you know, we have been fighting to protect the constitutional right to free speech for the more than 170 million Americans who use our platform every day to connect, create, discover and achieve their dreams. On behalf of everyone at TikTok and all our users across the country. I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us, to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States. This is a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship."
"To all American users, thank you for making our TikTok community such a rich and vibrant space for surprising and delighting us every day. Rest assured, we will do everything in our power to ensure our platform thrives as your online home for limitless creativity and discovery, as well as a source of inspiration and joy for years to come."
In his first public statement since the Supreme Court upheld a law banning the app earlier that day, Chew addressed users in a TikTok video.
TikTok warned late Friday it will go dark in the United States on Sunday (January 19) unless President Joe Biden's administration provides assurances to companies like Apple and Google that they will not face enforcement actions when a ban takes effect.
The statement came hours after the Supreme Court upheld a law banning TikTok in the United States on national security grounds if its Chinese parent company ByteDance does not sell it, putting the popular short-video app on track to go dark in just two days.
Trump said on Friday the decision on the future of the TikTok app will be up to him, but did not provide any detail about what steps he would take. Media reports have said that he was considering an executive order that would suspend the enforcement of the TikTok sale-or-ban law for 60 to 90 days.