President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that essentially approves of the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations to an American investor group in order to keep the social media app operational in the country. Vice President JD Vance said that the deal would value TikTok US at “around $14 billion.”
TikTok was required to divest its American business, or be banned in the U.S., via a national security law originally signed by former President Joe Biden. Trump’s executive order essentially bars the Attorney General or Department of Justice from enforcing that law for 120 days while the divestiture plan presented to the President is executed.
TikTok’s owner ByteDance has not yet publicly acknowledged the deal or executive order, but did, on September 19, issue a statement that “it will work in accordance with applicable laws to ensure TikTok remains available to American users through TikTok U.S.”
Trump said China’s President Xi Jinping spoke to him and gave him approval.
“I spoke with President Xi, we had a good talk,” Trump said during a briefing with reporters. “I told him what we were doing, and he said, ‘Go ahead with it.”
The order states that TikTok’ U.S. operations will establish a new board of directors, and that the app’s recommendation algorithm, source code, and content moderation system in the US will be transferred to the control of its new owners. Under the deal’s terms, Oracle will oversee the app’s security operations and provide computing services for TikTok US.
“It’s owned by Americans, and very sophisticated Americans,” Trump said during the briefing. “This is going to be American operated all the way.”
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Trump said that Oracle would be among the U.S. investors in TikTok US, but did not disclose the full list of new owners. CNBC reports that Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX will get a 45 percent stake in TikTok’s US company.
“This deal really does mean Americans can use TikTok but actually use it with more confidence than they had in the past because their data is secure and it won’t be used as a propaganda weapon like it has in the past,” Vance said.
During the briefing, Trump stated that “every group, every philosophy, every policy will be treated fairly” after being asked if the algorithm would show MAGA-related content following the deal.
Trump last week signed signed an executive order that extended ByteDance’s deadline to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations or be banned. This marked the fourth time that Trump extended the deadline.
Trump initiated the push to ban TikTok in 2020, and the idea later received bipartisan backing during Biden’s administration.
