"Back Seat Is Fine Too"... TikTok CEO Attends 'Savior' Trump Inauguration [News Figures]

Trump Postpones TikTok Ban Act for Three Months
TikTok's Survival Depends on Approval of US-China Share-Splitting Negotiations

Zhu Shouzu, CEO of TikTok, is seated in the Rotunda Hall of the U.S. Capitol, where the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Donald Trump was held on the 20th (local time). Photo by EPA and Yonhap News

On the 20th (local time), at the Rotunda Hall of the U.S. Capitol where President Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony was held, TikTok CEO Zhu Shouzi appeared, seated at a distance from other big tech CEOs. Although he did not sit alongside other big tech leaders who occupied the front seats, such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Zhu quietly made his presence felt by sitting in the back.

With strong bipartisan support from both the Republican and Democratic parties, the "TikTok Ban Act" was passed, leading to the suspension of TikTok services in the U.S., and it was widely expected that Zhu would not have a seat at President Trump's inauguration. However, the day before the inauguration, President Trump postponed the enforcement of the TikTok Ban Act for three months and extended an olive branch to the Chinese government to resume negotiations on splitting the shares of ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, allowing the service to resume. President Trump proposed a joint venture in which American companies would hold 50% of TikTok's U.S. business shares. From TikTok's perspective, President Trump became a true savior.

TikTok has faced criticism for excessive customer data leaks that threaten U.S. national security. For this reason, the Biden administration pushed for and passed the TikTok Ban Act. On the other hand, President Trump opposed a full ban, citing that over 170 million people in the U.S. already use TikTok and that it has become an essential messenger for the younger generation. Trump’s own political interests also played a role, as he has 14.7 million followers on his TikTok account.

Zhu, who was summoned to the U.S. House of Representatives in March 2023 and faced allegations and criticism of ties to the Chinese Communist Party, sincerely expressed his gratitude to President Trump. Shortly after TikTok service resumed, he stated in a public video, "On behalf of all TikTok employees and users, I sincerely thank President Trump for working to find a solution that allows TikTok to continue to be used in the United States."

However, the three-month postponement of the TikTok Ban Act by President Trump does not mean all crises have been overcome. Ultimately, the U.S.-China negotiations on splitting ByteDance's shares must be approved for TikTok to be completely free from the constraints of the TikTok Ban Act. For the Chinese government to accept President Trump's proposal, ByteDance, currently a private company, must either pursue an initial public offering or establish a separate subsidiary in the U.S. to be listed. This will be a symbolic procedure to determine whether ByteDance is a security threat company under the effective control of the Chinese Communist Party or a purely private enterprise.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.