WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that he says will allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States in a way that meets national security concerns laid out by the law.
President Joe Biden signed legislation last year calling for China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok’s assets to an American company by early this year or face a nationwide ban, but Trump has repeatedly signed orders that have allowed TikTok to keep operating in the U.S. as his administration tries to reach an agreement for the sale of the social media company.
Much is still unknown about the actual deal in the works, but Trump said Thursday that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has approved it. Any major change to the popular video platform could have a huge impact on how Americans — particularly young adults and teenagers — consume information online.
The Chinese embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to an AP inquiry seeking confirmation that China has signed off on the proposed framework deal.
About 43% of U.S. adults under the age of 30 say they regularly get news from TikTok, higher than any other social media app including YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, according to a Pew Research Center report published Thursday.
Who will control the new TikTok venture
Under the terms of the deal that have so far been revealed by the White House, the app will be spun off into a new U.S. joint venture owned by a consortium of American investors — including Oracle and investment firm Silver Lake Partners.
Though the details have yet to be finalized, the investment group’s total stake in the new venture would be around 80%, while ByteDance is expected to have a 20%, or smaller, stake in the entity. The board running the new platform would be controlled by U.S. investors. ByteDance will be represented by one person on the board, but that individual will be excluded from any security matters or related committees.
Trump also mentioned Dell founder Michael Dell will be an investor in the new venture.
What we know about the algorithm powering the platform
The recommendation algorithm that has steered millions of users into an endless stream of video shorts has been central in the security debate over TikTok. China previously maintained the algorithm must remain under Chinese control by law. But a U.S. regulation that Congress passed with bipartisan support said any divestment of TikTok must mean the platform cut ties with ByteDance.
American officials previously warned the algorithm — which is a complex system of rules and calculations that platforms use to deliver content to your feed — is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape messaging on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect, but no evidence has ever been presented by U.S. officials showing that China has attempted to do so.
Trump, during his first term, signed an executive order attempting to ban the app if it didn’t split off its U.S. business, warning that TikTok’s data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information.
Although the details remain unclear, a Trump administration official said that a licensed copy of the ByteDance created algorithm — retrained solely with U.S. data — will power the new U.S. version of the app. Administration officials say this retraining effort will nullify any risk of Chinese interference and influence.
Young people especially “really wanted this to happen,” Trump said during the signing ceremony.
That makes it unclear if the U.S. version of TikTok will be a different experience than what users in the rest of the world are used to. Any noticeable changes made to a social media platform’s service raises the risk of alienating its audience, said Jasmine Enberg, an analyst for the research firm eMarketer.
