Top TikTok executives reportedly rubbed shoulders with American tech leaders and handed out business cards at an elite pre-inauguration donor event on Sunday featuring members of the Trump administration, as the app’s future in the U.S. remains uncertain.
Tiktok executives including CEO Shou Chew and vice president Michael Beckerman were reportedly on hand at the event, which President Donald and First Lady Melania Trump hosted at the National Building Museum in Washington. They joined a reported guestlist including Vice President JD Vance, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and conservative megadonor Miriam Adelson.
The app’s c-suite was reportedly “making the rounds last night; making a big argument for TikTok,” an eyewitness told Mediaite. “They were schmoozing and speaking to anyone they could, handing out cards.”
The Independent has contacted the Trump transition team and TikTok for comment.
In addition to their reported appearance at the candlelight dinner, which was open to those who gave $1 million or raised $2 million for the record-breaking, $200-plus million inaugural fund, TikTok also sponsored an award show on Sunday night for conservative TikTok influencers. Chew also appeared at Monday’s inaugural ceremony itself in Capitol.
The full-court press from TikTok comes as the wildly popular app’s future in the U.S. is uncertain.
On Saturday, the app went offline in the U.S., a day before a law banning TikTok unless it found new owners for its U.S. operations was set to take effect.
However, by Sunday, thanks to a promise from Trump to delay the ban until he could work out a new compromise over the app’s future, TikTok was back online, with the company thanking the new president for his position.
“Welcome back! Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!” read a message to the app’s newly reinstated U.S. users.
Nonetheless, despite the temporary respite for TikTok, numerous users are flocking to rival apps like Rednote in anticipation of a permanent ban in the U.S.
The uncertainty around TikTok is the latest bizarre chapter in its relationship with Donald Trump, who tried to force a U.S. sale in 2020 via executive order, was denied in court, then pledged his support for the app in the 2024 election once it helped boost his campaign with young voters.
Liberal leaders and commentators expressed alarm over the president’s apparent personal influence over many of the major social media companies.
“TikTok tucking itself in with Trump. Twitter under control of the White House. Facebook making major changes to placate MAGA, doing PR campaign to align w Trump,” Senator Chris Murphy on Conecticut wrote in a post on X. “Does everyone not see what’s happening here and how terrifying this is.”
New York Times opinion columnist Ezra Klein argued Trump was angling for control over the “attentional oligarchs.”
“For all Trump’s talk of manufacturing jobs, you didn’t see the CEOs of GE and Caterpillar sitting in the prime seats today,” Klein wrote on X of the inauguration. “You saw the CEOs of Amazon and X and Meta and Google and TikTok.”
Million-dollar donations from leading tech firms and executives deluged the Trump inaugural fund, putting it on track to raise more than $200 million, breaking the record from Trump’s previous inauguration.
Some firms, like Meta, have also made internal changes like removing fact-checking and appointing Trump allies to key positions, in steps seen by observers as an attempt to deepen ties to Trump.
