After years of political debate, lawsuits, and uncertainty surrounding the future of TikTok in the United States, the long-running saga over the popular video-sharing app may finally be coming to a resolution. This week, it is expected that US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will finalize a long-negotiated agreement that could allow TikTok to continue operating in the US, but under new ownership and regulatory terms.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Sunday that the details of the deal had been "ironed out," with both sides reaching an agreement after extensive negotiations. Bessent emphasized that his goal was to secure Chinese approval for the transaction, which he said had now been accomplished. While the two leaders are anticipated to formalize the agreement during a meeting in Korea on Thursday, uncertainty remains, as previous deadlines and announcements regarding TikTok have often shifted or been delayed.
The political rollercoaster for TikTok began in 2020, when US officials first raised concerns about the app's Chinese ownership and the potential risks it posed to user privacy and national security. At the heart of these concerns was ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company based in Beijing. Lawmakers and security experts worried that the Chinese government could compel ByteDance to hand over sensitive data on American users or manipulate the app’s powerful recommendation algorithm for political purposes.
In response, Congress passed a law in 2024 that required ByteDance to divest its US operations or face a complete ban of TikTok in the country. This legislative move set off a flurry of executive orders, legal challenges, and failed acquisition attempts. The situation reached a critical point earlier this year when the US Supreme Court upheld the divestment order, dismissing arguments that banning TikTok would violate Americans’ free speech rights. This decision forced both US and Chinese negotiators back to the table, accelerating talks but also continuing the pattern of missed deadlines and shifting timelines.
In September, President Trump signed an executive order laying out the terms for TikTok's continued operation in the US. The order stipulated that TikTok’s US arm must be majority-owned by American investors and stakeholders. The White House confirmed that Oracle, a major American technology company, would oversee and operate TikTok's algorithm for US users. The algorithm, which determines what content appears on users’ feeds, has been a major point of contention due to fears it could be used to influence public opinion or disseminate political propaganda at the behest of foreign actors.
Alongside Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake and Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, will be among the new investors. Initially, Trump announced that media moguls Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan would also be part of the ownership group, but later reports clarified that the investment would come from Fox Corp, the Murdochs’ media company, rather than from the individuals themselves.
A central part of the agreement involves "retraining" TikTok’s recommendation algorithm on US user data, rather than