Social media personality and food critic Keith Lee took home the highest honor of the 2025 TikTok Awards after he was named Creator of the Year at the inaugural ceremony. Lee, a popular food reviewer who highlights small businesses, was visibly choked up in his acceptance speech after being handed the award by presenter Paris Hilton.

TikTok's China-based parent company ByteDance must sever ties with TikTok or lose access to U.S. app stores and web-hosting services

The deal comes more than a year after Congress passed a law that forced the Chinese company to divest its US operations or face a ban.

The inaugural TikTok Awards became a reality on Thursday, Dec. 18 — passing out hardware to the most important folks on the incredibly popular platform.

The owner of TikTok has agreed to create a joint venture that will make the popular social media app majority-owned by American investors.

The event, which streamed live from the Hollywood Palladium on Thursday, handed out 14 awards and battled problems with its video screens.