WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday approving a deal to place social video platform TikTok under predominantly American control, though questions remain as to whether the arrangement severs enough of the app’s ties to the Chinese government to satisfy the requirements of the law.
In April 2024, former President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which forbids applications controlled by a “foreign adversary” from operating within the United States, “including any cooperation with respect to the operation of a content recommendation algorithm or an agreement with respect to data sharing.”
It was motivated primarily by TikTok Chinese parent company ByteDance’s links to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its military and surveillance operations, sparking national security concerns over the Chinese regime’s ability to use TikTok to collect personal data on American users and influence American opinion.
TikTok is also notorious for sexually explicit and leftist content, including regarding transgenderism, and for harming children.
The law, which was unanimously upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, placed a January 19, 2025, deadline for ByteDance to sell off TikTok’s American operations or see the app shut down in the United States, but Trump issued multiple extensions of the deadline, despite the law only allowing for a single 90-day extension, subject to a concrete divestment proposal being on the table.
Trump’s executive order says a proposal that qualifies has finally been reached. Under the terms, it says, “TikTok’s United States application will be operated by a newly established joint venture based in the United States. It will be majority-owned and controlled by United States persons and will no longer be controlled by any foreign adversary, since ByteDance Ltd. and its affiliates will own less than 20 percent of the entity, with the remainder being held by certain investors (Investor Parties). This new joint venture will be run by a new board of directors and subject to rules that appropriately protect Americans’ data and our national security.”
According to an accompanying White House fact sheet, the agreement “puts the operation of the algorithm, code, and content moderation decisions under the control of the new joint venture”; “prohibits the storage of sensitive U.S. user data in a manner that would allow such data to be under the control of a foreign adversary. All U.S. user data will be stored in a trusted, secure, and purpose-built cloud environment in the United States run by Oracle”; and “includes intense monitoring of software updates, the algorithm, and data flows, and it requires all recommendation models, including algorithms, that use U.S. user data to be retrained and monitored by America’s trusted security partners.”
The order directs the federal government not to enforce the ban for another 120 days so the deal can be finalized.
It is unclear, however, whether ByteDance retaining even a small stake in TikTok satisfies the requirements of the law. Business Insider notes that another “big” question is “who exactly is getting TikTok. While it will be a consortium of investors, the exact makeup of the group wasn’t disclosed. Trump said ‘four or five world-class investors’ are involved, including Michael Dell, Rupert Murdoch, and Larry Ellison.”
In the final year of Trump’s first term, he levied sanctions against TikTok and supported banning it as well but during his 2024 campaign reversed his position days after meeting with GOP megadonor and TikTok shareholder Jeff Yass. Supporters argued at the time that finding a way to preserve TikTok was critical to drawing the youth vote.
“President Trump found a solution for the 170 million Americans who use TikTok, ensuring users will be able to safely enjoy the same global TikTok experience and view content from around the world with the confidence that their data is secure in the United States,” the White House says.
