The White House has indicated that a deal for TikTok to move under U.S. ownership could be finalized in South Korea as soon as Thursday, potentially ending months of uncertainty about the platform’s future in the United States.
President Donald Trump is currently visiting South Korea and will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss efforts to ease trade tensions between the two countries. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CBS’s “Face the Nation” that both leaders plan to “consummate that transaction on Thursday in Korea.”
This agreement comes after bipartisan majorities in Congress passed legislation—later signed by President Joe Biden—that would ban TikTok from operating in the U.S. unless it found a new owner not connected to China’s ByteDance. The platform briefly went offline when the law’s January deadline arrived, but Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office allowing TikTok to continue operating while negotiations continued.
Over subsequent months, Trump issued several more executive orders extending the deadline for reaching a deal. Earlier efforts to transfer TikTok into American ownership fell apart after China withdrew from talks following tariff announcements by the U.S., leading to further extensions through additional orders in June and September.
Trump’s most recent order aims for an American-led group of investors to acquire TikTok from ByteDance, pending approval from Chinese authorities.
Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific program, commented during a media briefing: “TikTok deal is ‘not really a big thing for Xi Jinping.’ (China is) happy to let (Trump) declare that they have finally kept a deal. Whether or not that deal will protect the data of Americans is a big question going forward.” She added, “A big question mark for the United States, of course, is whether this is consistent with U.S. law since there was a law passed by Congress.”
TikTok remains especially popular among younger Americans. According to Pew Research Center data released in September, about 43% of adults under 30 regularly get news from TikTok—more than any other social media platform including YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
Public opinion on what should happen with TikTok has shifted over time. A recent Pew Research Center survey shows only about one-third of Americans now support banning TikTok—a decrease from 50% support recorded in March 2023—while another third oppose such a ban and a similar share remain unsure.
Among those supporting a ban, around eight out of ten cite concerns about users’ data security as their main reason. The debate over security largely centers on TikTok’s recommendation algorithm—the technology responsible for personalizing video feeds—which China has previously insisted must remain under its control by law. However, current U.S. regulations require any divestment from ByteDance to include severing ties with this algorithm.
American officials have warned that this algorithm could be manipulated by Chinese authorities but have yet to present evidence demonstrating such interference.
