President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that will allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States, provided it meets national security requirements. The move follows legislation signed by President Joe Biden last year, which required ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, to sell its U.S. assets or face a ban.
Trump announced on Thursday that Chinese President Xi Jinping has approved the proposed deal for TikTok’s U.S. operations. However, the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately confirm whether China had agreed to the framework.
The new arrangement would see TikTok spun off into a U.S.-based joint venture controlled by American investors such as Oracle and Silver Lake Partners. According to details shared by the White House, this group would hold about 80% of the new entity, while ByteDance would retain a stake of 20% or less. The board overseeing the platform would be led by U.S. investors, with ByteDance represented by one member who would be excluded from security-related matters.
Among those expected to have stakes in the new venture are Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and media executive Rupert Murdoch. Michael Dell is also set to invest in the company, according to Trump.
The algorithm powering TikTok’s recommendation system has been at the center of security discussions between U.S. and Chinese officials. While China previously insisted on retaining control over the technology, recent U.S. regulations require that any divestment include cutting technological ties with ByteDance. A Trump administration official said that a licensed version of ByteDance’s algorithm—retrained solely with U.S.-sourced data—will be used for American users.
Vice President J.D. Vance commented: “we wanted to keep TikTok operating” but address security concerns so that “Americans can use TikTok but use it with more confidence than they had in the past.”
Trump added during the signing ceremony: Young people especially “really wanted this to happen.”
Research indicates that nearly 43% of Americans under age 30 regularly get news from TikTok, making it more popular among young adults than other social media platforms like YouTube or Facebook (https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/06/10/nearly-half-of-americans-under-30-get-news-on-tiktok-regularly).
Jasmine Enberg, an analyst at eMarketer, noted potential risks if changes made under new ownership alter user experience: “Social media is just as much about the culture as it is the technology, and how users will take to new ownership and potentially a new version of the app is still an open question,” Enberg said.
On China’s motivation for approving a deal after initially opposing divestment demands, some experts believe Beijing sees value in ongoing trade negotiations with Washington and hopes to maintain access to American technology while building up domestic capabilities in sectors like artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing.
Sun Yun of Stimson Center stated: “TikTok alone does not compare with the importance of an amicable U.S.-China relations and the positive momentum that prevents many negative development from happening.”
Dimitar Gueorguiev of Syracuse University described TikTok as an “expendable concession” for Beijing since similar video feed algorithms are now used by competitors like Instagram.
It remains unclear what impact these changes will have on how Americans use TikTok or how its content will be delivered compared to international versions.
