A major deal to secure TikTok’s future in the United States has been reached. It includes a surprising solution at its core: TikTok‘s powerful Chinese recommendation algorithm will be copied and retrained on U.S. user data. This agreement, which follows a long effort to prevent a ban on the app, aims to address national security concerns about its Chinese ownership.
Tech giant Oracle will play a central role in this new arrangement. A senior White House official confirmed that Oracle will oversee the app’s recommendation system. The company will be inspecting its source code and rebuilding it using only American user data. Oracle will also store all data from the app’s 170 million U.S. users on its cloud servers. It’s noteworthy that the company already had this “storage” role under a previous agreement.
Oracle will now oversee and retrain TikTok’s algorithm in the U.S
The deal will transfer control of the app to a new joint venture, which will have majority American investors. TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, will retain a minority stake of less than 20%. Meanwhile, an American board of directors will operate the new company. Oracle and private equity firm Silver Lake are confirmed as investors. There are also rumors suggesting that other tech and media leaders might also join the new ownership group.
For years, U.S. officials expressed concern that the Chinese government could force ByteDance to use the algorithm to influence or spread propaganda to Americans. The new deal aims to solve this by creating a secure, separate operation for U.S. users.
Will TikTok US be a different version than the global one?
However, some analysts have raised questions about how this change might affect the app. Since the algorithm will no longer have access to content from the rest of the world, it could alter the user experience for Americans and potentially make the app less valuable for creators and brands. The U.S.-run version could become a separate, distinct app, rather than a global one.
President Trump will sign an executive order soon, which will extend the deadline for the app’s ban by 120 days. This will allow the new ownership group time to finalize the deal and secure all the necessary regulatory approvals.
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