With TikTok back online after shutting off for less than a day, the company embarked on an inaugural weekend goodwill tour aimed at incoming President Donald Trump, the person the video-sharing app is counting on to save it in the long term.
On Sunday, TikTok contributed $50,000 to a party in honor of Gen Z Trump supporters and his biggest social media allies. TikTok’s lobbyist Mac Abrams made his rounds, and guests including Trump campaign adviser Alex Bruesewitz and Republican political activist Scott Presler rubbed elbows with former British Prime Minister Liz Truss and boxer Scott McGregor.
“If anyone can negotiate a deal that keeps TikTok alive while simultaneously protecting the data of the American people, it’s President Trump,” Bruesewitz told the crowd.
The party’s other sponsors were Kalshi, which recently named Donald Trump Jr. as a strategic adviser, and the American Conservation Coalition.
The night before, TikTok hosted Trump-aligned influencers and other guests to watch a Washington Capitals hockey game from a suite in the Capital One Arena.
CEO Shou Zi Chew is set to attend the inauguration Monday, and advisers to Trump have discussed having the incoming president sign an executive order to rescue the app shortly after he’s sworn in.
The overtures to Trumpworld capped a tumultuous weekend in which TikTok shut down, then restored service to U.S. customers on Sunday after the Supreme Court upheld a law forcing its sale or ban, and the incoming president promised he’d somehow grant the company a reprieve.
TikTok punctuated the drama with notes of appreciation to Trump.
Following the high court decision Friday, Chew thanked Trump in a TikTok, saying, “We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a president who truly understands our platform” and adding, “more to come.”
When the app revoked access for its U.S. users on Saturday night, it said in a pop-up message, “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office.”
It once again name-checked the incoming president when it restored service a day later, saying in a statement, “We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties.”
The love was mutual.
“We need to save TikTok because we’re talking about a tremendous audience that goes to TikTok,” Trump said at a rally he held Sunday at Capital One Arena.
TikTok and Trump’s team have been speaking directly about how to move forward, two people granted anonymity to discuss private discussions told POLITICO.
Those conversations have been focused on finding a privacy and data security solution that appeases some of the national security concerns that were cited by the Supreme Court, one of the people said.
The incoming president proposed the idea of a joint venture for TikTok, with the U.S. owning 50 percent, but it raised a raft of legal questions.
Meanwhile, the influencers who attended Sunday’s party were eager to be part of a critical national conversation — albeit with some whiplash.
“I wouldn’t be here without this,” said a TikToker who goes by the name Chelly and does Vivek Ramaswamy impressions on the platform. “All of the sudden the [app] shut down and then all of the sudden it came back all in one weekend. It feels like a toxic ex.”
