This may be a dark day for TikTok, but Jimmy Fallon is looking at the bright side. The NBC late night host listed TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew as someone who may be looking forward to Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Trump previously invited the executive to attend the event, which Chew accepted. “The TikTok CEO was like, ‘Oh, spying in person! This hits different,’” Fallon said on Thursday night.
“I read that Trump is considering an executive order that would keep TikTok around for a few more months,” Fallon said earlier in the show. “It makes sense because with TikTok you think you’re done and you end up scrolling for a little bit longer.”
Fallon’s jokes came out on Thursday night, hours before the Supreme Court upheld the United States’ TikTok ban early Friday morning. The ban is expected to go into effect this upcoming Sunday, impacting the platform’s 170 million monthly American users from accessing the app. During its ruling, the Supreme Court found banning the app does not impact Americans’ First Amendment rights and cited “national security justifications” for the reason behind its decision, pointing to China’s data collection and content manipulation efforts.
Last April, President Biden signed a law that would result in a ban of the app unless TikTok’s parent company, the Beijing-based ByteDance, sold its American business. President-elect Trump has since said he may “save” the app. This may take the form of issuing an executive order that overturns the ban or giving ByteDance more time to sell off the U.S. branch of its company.
As for what this ban practically means for users, starting on Sunday, Americans who do not already have the app will be unable to download it, and Apple and Google’s digital stores will stop offering the app. TikTok will also be prevented from updating on the phones of existing users. Reports have leaked that TikTok will take more drastic measures if the ban is passed, pushing for an immediate shutdown on Sunday rather than the slower shutdown process that will happen as users are unable to update.
