Anna Wintour slammed after starting Met Gala sponsorship deal with banned app TikTok

Anna Wintour is very busy this week in the run-up to the annual Met Gala, but she has been faced with extra criticism this year.

Despite President Joe Biden's recent bill, the Vogue editor-in-chief has started a multi-million-pound deal with TikTok to sponsor the 2024 Met Gala.

Anna will be joined by TikTok CEO Shou Chew on the red carpet, just days after President Biden signed a bill into law to either ban the Chinese social media platform or force its sale.

The Met Gala will be held on May 6 by Ana alongside Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, and Chris Hemsworth as chairs.

TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has spent millions to sponsor the event in a deal that TikTok sources stressed had been made long before the ban became law.

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A source told Page Six: "It’s true that the deal was cut way before this bill passed, but this is a PR disaster.

"What does Anna do? Did she uninvite TikTok a week before? She can’t. Anna is the total dictator of this event every year, let her talk her way out of this one!"

The source pointed out that many of the stars who attend the gala also have ties with music giant Universal.

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This comes also as Universal banned its artists from the app in a standoff over licensing fees and accused TikTok of "bullying" by wanting to pay a "fraction" of the rate other platforms do for music content.

Notably, Bad Bunny and Rihanna are signed to Universal, with all of her music being removed from TikTok.

The source added: "There will be a lot of musicians who were basically paid nothing by TikTok. Having TikTok as the sponsor is insulting."

TikTok sources, however, said the company's executives are negotiating with Universal and hope for a deal soon.

The Senate passed the bill Tuesday that gives ByteDance up to a year to sell TikTok or have the app, which has 170 million American users, banned entirely.

The House had already passed the bill, allowing Biden to sign it into law immediately.

The bill was driven by fear among lawmakers that China could access American data or use the app for surveillance.