TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has spoken out about the Supreme Court’s decision to ban the app in the United States and President-elect Donald Trump’s comments.
In a TikTok video, Chew thanked Trump for his support and the bigger picture of the ruling on free speech.
Chew said: “On behalf of everyone at TikTok and all our users in the US, I want to thank President Trump for working with us to find a solution to keep TikTok in the US. This is a big win for the First Amendment and against censorship.”
Chew’s remarks shows TikTok is counting on big names like Trump to speak up for the platform in the US.
Trump has positioned himself as the hero of TikTok, saying on Truth Social he’s talking to Chinese President Xi Jinping to find a solution. He’s keen to be seen as the savior of the platform given his own heavy use of social media to connect with his audience.
“We are happy and relieved to have a president who gets our platform,” Chew added. “One who has used TikTok to express himself and has over 60 billion views of his content.”
Despite the statement of support, TikTok’s future in the US is still unclear.
The Supreme Court has ruled to enforce the ban and users and the app are in limbo as we wait to see if TikTok will disable the app in the US as early as Sunday or wait for further talks with Trump.
The TikTok ban shows the growing pressure on Chinese owned apps in Western countries. For Nigerians, this means data privacy and how global policies could affect app availability. And if global platforms like TikTok are restricted, Nigerian creators may need to spread their wings to other platforms to reach international audience.
This is a reminder for Nigerian users to keep up with global tech news and its implications.
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