After years — yes, literal years — of debating, posturing, and signing executive orders, it seems we’re on the precipice of a deal that would officially allow TikTok to operate in the United States.
ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, has been on a timeline to either find a new owner or get banned in the U.S. due to hotly debated security reasons. The timeline is ever-changing — each time we get close to an outright ban, President Donald Trump extends the deadline (in a very questionably legal process). This past week, the president extended the latest Sept. 16 deadline and set a new deadline for Dec. 16. There’s a difference this time, though: A deal actually seems to be on the horizon.
Here’s everything you need to know about a potential U.S.-China TikTok deal.
What’s the deal with this TikTok deal?
President Trump said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke about a deal over the phone on Friday, according to NBC News. On Saturday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that six members of the seven-seat board controlling the company would be Americans. Crucially, Leavitt also said that the U.S. would maintain control of the algorithm for American users, also according to NBC News.
“This deal does put America first,” Leavitt told Fox News’ “Saturday in America,” according to NBC News. “And let me just be very clear. This deal means that TikTok will be majority-owned by Americans in the United States. There will be seven seats on the board that controls the app in the United States, and six of those seats will be Americans.”
At first, the White House wanted one board member to be designated by the U.S. government, but that’s still up for debate and may not be part of the final deal, according to a Bloomberg report from earlier today.
Why was TikTok banned in the first place?
Previously, a bipartisan group of lawmakers joined together to ban TikTok as a potential threat to national security, a claim that ByteDance strongly rejected. Lawmakers also cited privacy risks as well as the app’s potential to serve as a vector for Chinese propaganda. The U.S. Supreme Court quickly and unanimously upheld that ban. After taking office, President Trump repeatedly extended the ban through executive orders. (The U.S. president cannot unilaterally override federal law or Supreme Court rulings, at least, according to the Constitution.)
When will the TikTok deal go into effect?
BBC News reported that while Leavitt said a deal could be signed “in the coming days,” there’s no word from Beijing on timing. All the while, Bloomberg reported that Trump is expected to sign an executive order this week that would give investors — whose names have yet to be finalized — 120 days to actually complete the sale.
No matter what, a deal will have to be made before the December 16 deadline or Trump will have to extend it yet again.
Who will own TikTok?
In short, U.S.-based companies will own the majority of the app — if this deal goes through. Oracle will lead data and privacy for the app, according to Leavitt, who called Oracle one “of America’s greatest tech companies,” BBC News reported. Officials told Bloomberg that the rest of the investors have yet to be finalized.
Trump told reporters on Friday that the investors are “all very well-known people, very famous people actually, financially.”
“It’s also controlled by very powerful and very substantial American people, all American, by the way, all American people,” he said, according to NBC News.
And, on Sunday, the President said in an interview on Fox News that Lachlan Murdoch “is involved” and that his father, Rupert Murdoch, “is probably gonna be in the group, I think they’re going to be in the group,” according to CNBC.
What’s happening with the algorithm?
At the center of this debate is TikTok’s precious algorithm. That algorithm might be a bit different under new ownership with this deal — it will be copied and retrained specifically using U.S. user data, a White House official said on Monday, according to BBC News. Previously, the TikTok algorithm has been critizied for
It’s important to note that, as of this writing, nothing has actually been signed. And while the White House says it is confident a deal will go through, China’s approval isn’t set in stone.