Three major new investors, including two American groups, signed agreements with popular video app TikTok on Thursday, according to The New York Times. The app's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, maintains a minority stake. The ramifications could be huge for the millions of creators and fans of the immensely popular short-video app. But at the moment, any future changes to the app are mostly unknown.
The part-American, part-global investor group includes tech giant Oracle, a California-based private equity fund called Silver Lake and the United Arab Emirates investment firm MGX. The joint venture will be governed by a new seven-member board of directors, with a majority of American members.
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The changes come as an attempt to comply with a federal law that would ban the app if it did not reduce its Chinese ownership. ByteDance was facing a Jan. 23 deadline. President Donald Trump had repeatedly delayed the enforcement of the ban.
For years, the US government has raised concerns about potential Chinese government access to data through TikTok's parent company. In 2023, TikTok CEO Shou Chew said, "TikTok has never shared, or received a request to share US user data with the Chinese government. Nor would TikTok honor such a request if one were ever made."
In a memo obtained by media outlets this week, Chew told employees, "The US joint venture will be responsible for US data protection, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurance. It will also have the exclusive right and authority to provide assurances that content, software, and data for American users is secure."
It's estimated that TikTok has more than 170 million American users, as well as millions of creators, some of whom earn their living by making videos on the app.
Roll for the algorithm?
One of those creators is Jacob Pauwels, of the immensely popular "Roll for Sandwich" videos, where he rolls dice, Dungeons & Dragons-style, to determine what kind of sandwich he's going to make. Millions of people regularly watch his videos on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and other platforms.
Pauwels said it was "stressful' not knowing if TikTok -- his largest platform -- was going to be banned in the US. Now that the app's fate seems a bit more secure, he said he still has concerns about American majority ownership of the brand.
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