Here is more from Politico:
WHOOPS: The American Enterprise Institute apologized on Tuesday amid backlash for listing TikTok as a sponsor of the think tank’s annual gala on Monday. “While TikTok did purchase two seats at the 1,000+-person dinner, listing them as a sponsor created the impression that they are a part of the AEI community. They are not,” AEI President Robert Doar said in a blog post. He added that the center-right think tank had refunded the $1,500 cost of TikTok’s two seats.
— The controversy shows that even as Trump has repeatedly delayed the implementation of a bill that would ban the Chinese-owned app — on which he now has an account — China hawks on the right aren’t falling in line with the president.
— “Our scholars have been at the forefront of alerting the Congress, the executive branch, and the American public to the dangers of Chinese influence operations and espionage through TikTok,” Doar noted, and AEI “will continue to do so, without fear or favor.”
The National Review noted that AEI's listing TikTok as a gala sponsor drew additional scrutiny when Hudson Institute senior fellow Michael Sobolik shared a critical post about it on social media.
Other sponsors of the event included News Corp, JPMorganChase, Lockheed Martin, Exxon Mobil, Google, KPMG, Meta, PhRMA, Liberty Mutual Insurance, United Airlines, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, and John Templeton Foundation, among others.
