TikTok announces an agreement to create a new platform separate from its Chinese parent company in the US.
The algorithm will be overseen by a company owned by a Trump ally.
WashingtonTikTok's long legal odyssey to continue operating in the US appears to be nearing its end. On Thursday night, the platform announced that its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, has reached an agreement with a group of non-Chinese investors to create a new app in the United States after the US Congress banned the social network due to security concerns and fears that China was collecting data from Americans. The ban, which was approved in the final days of Joe Biden's presidency, was suspended by Donald Trump in one of his first executive orders. Since then, the app had been in a kind of limbo, which Trump kept prolonging, until now, when this agreement was reached.
The Republican extended the app's life not because he believed it wasn't a threat—in fact, all the suspicion surrounding TikTok began during his presidency, and even now, in the negotiations of recent months, he has accused it of espionage—but because it proved useful for winning the youth vote. In a post on Truth Social, Trump celebrated the news, rightly recalling this fact. "I'm so happy I helped save TikTok! It will now be owned by a group of great American patriots and investors, the most important in the world, and will be a relevant voice. Along with other factors, this was responsible for its doing so well with the youth vote in the 2024 presidential election. I just hope that, a long way off, TikTok will continue to thrive," the president wrote.
The group of "great American patriots and investors" includes software giant Oracle; MGX, an investment firm from the United Arab Emirates; and Silver Lake, another investment firm. These three alone will own more than 80% of the new company. Other names on the list include Michael Dell, the tech billionaire behind Dell Technologies, and other firms, TikTok said. Adam Presser, TikTok's former chief operating officer, will be the CEO of TikTok USA.
Algorithm control
In September, when Trump had already announced the draft agreement so that the platform could continue operating in the US., he Wall Street Journal It was suggested that control of the algorithm would remain in the hands of Oracle, a company founded by Larry Ellison, an ally of Donald Trump. The company will be responsible for overseeing the algorithm and storing user data: in other words, what users see will be under the influence of another ally of the president. In the September draft, the US government itself was also expected to have an active role, but with the agreement announced this Thursday, this has not yet been fully confirmed.
In this way, TikTok will become the second social network to have its algorithm in the hands of a figure aligned with Trump. Elon Musk's ownership of TikTok has already made it clear how control of the algorithm can allow for influencing public opinion and setting the media agenda. The manipulation Musk subjected his algorithm to played a key role in Trump's election campaign and continues to make him the main platform for far-right messages in both the United States and Europe.
