In a pivotal announcement on Saturday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt unveiled the comprehensive details of a proposed agreement between the United States and China, aimed at securing TikTok’s continued operation for American users. This groundbreaking deal mandates that tech giant Oracle will assume responsibility for all U.S. user data and privacy, while a newly formed board, predominantly comprising American directors, will oversee the popular social media platform’s American operations.
During an appearance on Fox News’s “Saturday in America,” Ms. Leavitt expressed absolute certainty that the agreement had been finalized, stating, “we are 100 percent confident that a deal is done.” However, she clarified that the official signing was still pending but anticipated within the next few days.
For weeks, both the Trump administration and China had provided unclear updates regarding the status of a potential resolution for TikTok, the widely used app owned by Chinese firm ByteDance. Last year, Congress passed a bipartisan bill to ban the application unless it transitioned to a non-Chinese ownership structure. This legislative move stemmed from significant national security concerns, including fears that the Chinese government could exploit TikTok’s connections to access sensitive American user data or disseminate state-backed propaganda.
Just a day prior, President Trump informed reporters that Chinese President Xi Jinping had given his personal endorsement to the proposed deal. Echoing this sentiment, a spokesman from China’s Ministry of Commerce confirmed on Saturday that a fundamental framework agreement had been established between the two nations.
Ms. Leavitt’s remarks on Saturday suggested a deal similar to one ByteDance has been working toward for months, which would spin out a new American TikTok entity. Under that plan, some of TikTok’s largest investors would maintain their stake in the American app, while ByteDance would also bring in new U.S. investors to reduce Chinese ownership to less than 20 percent in order to satisfy the law.
She specified that a new board controlling TikTok in the United States would feature seven seats, with a clear American majority holding six of them. She further corroborated that Oracle, already a provider of computing resources for TikTok, would be at the helm of “data and privacy” for this new American enterprise.
Speculation had intensified throughout the week that Oracle, led by Larry Ellison, was poised to join a consortium of American investors. This group would acquire a significant stake in TikTok, effectively severing the app’s ties to ByteDance and addressing concerns about foreign influence.
Mr. Trump “recognized the need to protect Americans’ privacy and data while also keeping this app open,” Ms. Leavitt asserted, emphasizing that “this deal does put Americans first.”
Crucially, she also declared that TikTok’s powerful recommendation algorithm would now be “controlled by America.” The control over this technology has been a central point of contention in discussions surrounding TikTok’s data privacy and potential for foreign manipulation.
The question of whether the algorithm would be merely licensed or fundamentally altered remained unanswered. Chinese law currently stipulates that the algorithm must remain under Chinese control, yet U.S. legislation demands that TikTok be completely detached from any “operational relationship” with ByteDance, including any collaborative efforts concerning the content recommendation algorithm.
Neither ByteDance nor Oracle provided immediate comments in response to inquiries.
Should this TikTok deal come to fruition, it would finally resolve years of uncertainty surrounding the app’s presence in the United States. The law requiring the app’s cessation under Chinese control became effective in January, following the Supreme Court’s blocking of a legal challenge, but President Trump had previously postponed its enforcement four times.
China has consistently presented a significant hurdle in reaching a deal for TikTok. When the United States initially moved to compel a sale of TikTok, China swiftly updated its export control list to encompass crucial technologies like algorithms and source codes. This strategic move granted Beijing direct influence over any potential transaction involving TikTok’s core assets.
However, this past week, Trump administration officials appeared to have secured Beijing’s endorsement for the outlined framework. Despite this, China’s official statements have remained notably less detailed than Ms. Leavitt’s comprehensive remarks on Saturday.