After a year of stalled negotiations, TikTok owner ByteDance has reportedly agreed to Donald Trump’s deal giving US owners majority ownership of the app.
By signing the agreements, ByteDance has ended a prolonged period of uncertainty for millions of Americans who rely on TikTok for news, entertainment, social connection, and income. Under a law that Trump declined to enforce—which lawmakers convinced the Supreme Court was critical for national security—TikTok risked a US ban next year if the sale did not go through.
According to Reuters, terms of the deal match what was reported in September when Trump controversially confirmed that ByteDance would keep the algorithm. Under the deal, US investors and allies—including cloud computing firm Oracle, private equity group Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX—will likely license the algorithm.
Together, those owners will control 80.1 percent of TikTok while China-based ByteDance retains a 19.9 percent stake, as well as one of seven board seats. To ensure that China has no access to US data to spy on Americans or tweak the algorithm to indoctrinate users with political propaganda, Oracle will serve as a “trusted security partner,” Reuters reported.
In a memo to staff reviewed by Reuters, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew confirmed that all US data “will be stored in a trusted and secure cloud environment in the United States run by Oracle,” with Oracle ultimately responsible for safeguarding US data.
Describing the deal as a “joint venture,” he confirmed that the US company would “operate as an independent entity with authority over US data protection, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurance.” But ByteDance would separately “manage global product interoperability and certain commercial activities, including e-commerce, advertising, and marketing.”