TikTok to stay in the US as Donald Trump says deal is done

An agreement was concluded between the United States and China to keep Tiktok in the United States, according to President Donald Trump.

“We have an agreement on Tiktok, I concluded an agreement with China, I will speak to President XI on Friday to confirm everything,” Trump told journalists leaving the White House for a state visit to the United Kingdom.

The social media platform, led by the Chinese company bytedance, has been informed that it had to sell its American operations or risk being closed.

However, Trump has repeatedly delayed the ban since his announcement for the first time in January. Later Tuesday, he ordered on the deadline again, until December 16.

The American president said that a buyer will be announced soon.

The Wall Street Journal reported that by virtue of a negotiated agreement between the United States and China, the American activities of Tiktok would be controlled by a consortium of investors which would include the technological company Oracle, the investment company Silver Lake, and the venture capital company Andreessen Horowitz.

In a new American entity created under the agreement, American investors would hold a participation of around 80% and the Americans would dominate the board of directors, with a member selected by the United States government, according to the newspaper, which quoted familiar people with the issue.

American users, on the other hand, would go to a new application, currently in the test phase, which will have content recommendation algorithms using bydance license technology. Tiktok algorithms are the main reason for the success of the application.

Earlier, CNBC said that the agreement would include a mixture of current and new investors, and would be completed in the next 30 to 45 days.

He also said Oracle would retain his existing agreement to host Tiktok servers in the United States. This had been one of the main concerns of American legislators on concerns about data shared with China.

On Monday, an American commercial delegation said that it had concluded a “executive” agreement with China in the midst of wider commercial negotiations in Madrid.

China has confirmed a framework agreement, but said that no agreement would be concluded at the expense of their businesses.

After the talks, Wang Jingtao, deputy chief of the Chinese cyberspace administration, suggested in a press conference that the agreement included “the granting of licenses to algorithm and other intellectual property rights”.

He added: “The Chinese government, according to law, will examine and approve the relevant questions involving Tiktok, such as the export of technology as well as the use of intellectual property.”

After initially called for Tiktok’s ban during his first mandate, Trump reversed his position on the popular video sharing platform.

In January, the United States Supreme Court confirmed a law, adopted in April 2024, prohibiting application in the United States unless its Chinese parent company Bytedance sells its American arm.

The US Ministry of Justice said that due to its access to data on American users, Tiktok poses “a national security threat of immense depth and scale”.

However, Bytedance has resisted a sale, the maintenance of its American operations is completely distinct and says that no information is shared with the Chinese state.

Tiktok briefly became dark in January, but it lasted less than a day before the delay in the initial ban.

The sales deadline has since been extended four times, and the last delay in the ban should end on December 16.