TikTok’s parent company finalizes deal to keep video-sharing app operating in US
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TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, said it has finalized a deal on Thursday to set up a majority US-owned joint venture company to avoid a US ban on the popular short video app used by more than 200 million Americans.
deal The move marks a milestone for the video-sharing app after a years-long battle that began in August 2020, when US President Donald Trump first tried unsuccessfully to ban it over national security concerns.
The new app will operate under “defined security measures that protect national security through comprehensive data protection, algorithmic protection, content moderation and software assurance for US users,” the company said in a statement on Thursday.
The agreement provides for US and global investors including cloud computing giant Oracle, private equity group Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based MGX to hold an 80.1 percent stake in the new joint venture, while ByteDance will retain a 19.9 percent stake.
A White House official told Reuters that the US and Chinese governments have signed the agreement. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.
The details of the deal are as per which were highlighted in SeptemberWhen Trump delayed implementing a law that would ban the app unless its Chinese owner sold it.
Former TikTok personalities Adam Presser and Will Ferrell have been appointed CEO and Chief Security Officer, respectively. The joint venture’s board of directors includes TikTok CEO Shaw Chew, who will lead TikTok’s global business and strategy.
Broad bipartisan majorities in Congress passed a law (signed by then-President Joe Biden) to ban TikTok in the US if a new owner is not found to replace China’s ByteDance. The platform was set to go dark based on the law’s January 2025 deadline. This happened for several hours.
But on his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order to keep it afloat while his administration sought a deal for the sale of the company.
Trump administration extended the deadlineMany times. Meanwhile, Trump himself credited TikTok for helping him win the 2024 election. He has more than 16 million followers on his personal account.
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order outlining the terms of a deal to sell TikTok’s US operations to a group of state investors. For The National, CBC’s Ashley Fraser breaks down the deal and what it could mean for social media platforms’ algorithms.
The White House launched its own TikTok account last year.
Government of Canada ordered TikTok to shut down its Canadian operations ByteDance followed a review in November 2024, citing unspecified “national security risks”.
Canada has not banned the app for users.
Law professor Kristen Thomson says government legislation would be needed to prevent the sharing of non-consensual deepfakes on X, warning that this is a structural issue that users have limited means to resolve.
