How TikTok's Trump whisperer changed minds in Washington

Tony Sayegh led the effort to win Trump's support for the popular app with ties to China

- Georgia Wells, Dana Mattioli & Stu Woo

When the Biden administration said in March that it supported legislation that could ban TikTok, Tony Sayegh jumped into action.

Sayegh, the head of public affairs at one of TikTok's biggest investors, had become an unofficial adviser to the Chinese-owned social-media giant as it navigates survival in the geopolitical crosshairs of the world's two superpowers.

He turned to a seemingly unlikely potential savior for TikTok: Donald Trump, then the presumptive Republican nominee for president, who had initiated the effort to ban TikTok in his first term.

Sayegh started back-channeling to Trump's closest advisers, making the case that it was foolish to hand wins to both President Biden, who would appear tough on China, and Meta Platforms, which Trump believed had hurt his re-election bid in 2020.

Hours after the White House indicated support for a TikTok ban, Trump came out in favor of TikTok.

"If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business," Trump posted on his social-media network Truth Social, referring to Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg with a Yiddish obscenity.

At TikTok, executives celebrated.

Their optimism grew when Trump was elected to a second term this month, raising the prospect that he could make good on his campaign pledge to undo the ban and give the app new life in its most important market.

TikTok has reached out to Elon Musk in recent weeks for insight about the incoming administration, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Musk is both owner of a rival social-media platform, X, and one of the president-elect's closest confidants.

It is still far from certain what will happen.

The law requiring a sale or a ban passed with overwhelming bipartisan congressional support.

TikTok filed a lawsuit in May, challenging the law, and a court decision is expected by early December.