Trump Advances TikTok Sale, Says U.S. Will Control Algorithm
President Trump signed an executive order Thursday, advancing the sale of TikTok’s U.S. assets to a group of American investors.
The deal ensures China will no longer control the algorithm, Vice President JD Vance said from the Oval Office, where he valued the new U.S.-owned company at around $14 billion.
“The most important thing is that it does protect Americans’ data security and ensures TikTok is still accessible,” he said.
The deal will still likely need U.S. and Chinese regulatory approvals.
WHAT WE KNOW
ByteDance would maintain about a 20% stake in the U.S.-based company, with six Americans sitting on a new seven-member board overseeing TikTok’s U.S. operations. The U.S. would also take control of the app’s algorithm — the secret sauce that drives its highly addictive recommendation feed — which has been controlled by ByteDance under Chinese Communist Party oversight.
TikTok’s new U.S. entity would lease the algorithm from ByteDance under the terms of the deal.
One major question is how the licensing terms will work. The U.S. and global versions of TikTok are expected to run in parallel, sharing both the core algorithm and TikTok’s video library. What remains unclear is if and how this setup will protect Americans from potential Chinese propaganda.
The algorithm and all American user data would be managed domestically by tech giant Oracle, which already provides cloud services for the app in the U.S. Its founder, Larry Ellison, is set to be part of the new U.S. investor group.
Conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan, who leads Fox Corporation, along with Dell CEO Michael Dell will also be investing in TikTok as part of a deal, Trump said over the weekend.
How we got here: A bipartisan group of lawmakers passed a law in 2024 requiring TikTok to sell to a U.S. company or face a nationwide ban, citing national security concerns. China was accused of disguising propaganda, division, and spyware as entertainment. With more than 170 million American users, or roughly half the American population, Trump has postponed implementation of the ban to allow for continued talks this year.