Who might own the app and how would it work?

President Donald Trump said that an agreement to find a new owner for the application of Tiktok social media in the United States is concluded and that he has obtained the blessing of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Trump signed an executive decree that declared that his planned agreement was meeting the requirements of a law that called for prohibiting the United States on Thursday unless it was sold by his Chinese parent company bytedance.

In comments in the Oval Office, he and Vice-President JD Vance said that a group of investors would buy Tiktok American operations to create a new company worth $ 14 billion (10.5 billion pounds Sterling).

The agreement has not yet been confirmed by Bytedance or by the Chinese authorities.

For years, US officials and legislators have argued that Bytedance with the Chinese government threaten national security.

Many feared that Beijing could force Byédance to put data back on its American users – considered a number of 170 million.

Tiktok and Bytedance reject this criticism, but similar concerns have aroused prohibitions and restrictions in other countries of the world.

In April 2024, the US Congress adopted a bill – signed by former president Joe Biden – giving Bytedance nine months to find a buyer approved by the United States or see Tiktok stopped.

Tiktok described the law as “unconstitutional” and said that the censorship of its American users would have an “amazing” impact on freedom of expression. He launched several unsuccessful legal challenges.

Bytedance insisted that he did not intend to sell.

After Trump took office in January 2025, he extended this initial deadline to allow the search for new owners of the application. The president postponed the deadline several times to allow an agreement.

Trump’s Tiktok agreement will see American investors resume application operations in the country.

Trump said Thursday that a list of “sophisticated” investors would soon be released, although he mentioned some people who will be involved: the Oracle technology giant and the chairman of his board of directors Larry Ellison, who is a close ally of Trump; Rupert Murdoch of Fox Corporation; And Michael Dell, Dell Technologies chief.

Investors will control the algorithm that will feed the American version of Tiktok, and the Americans will hold six of the seven seats on the board of directors which will supervise it. According to the executive decree signed by Trump, China will hold less than 20% of the new joint venture.

Algorithm is technology that determines what users see in their flow and are considered the most precious – and controversial – part of the application.

As part of the agreement, the American Tiktok will use a new algorithm which will be based on the existing version, but recycled on American user data, according to the managers of the White House.

“Trusted Security Partners” will monitor software updates, algorithms and data flows, according to the decree.

Oracle already stores Tiktok American user data on its servers based on the United States as part of an existing agreement, and this will continue.

Trump and Vance said that this arrangement meets the requirements for the sale of Tiktok that have been presented in the 2024 law and, therefore, guarantees that the application on social networks can continue to operate in the United States.

The White House has also identified the Silver Lake Investment Capital Company as another investor. He has a participation in the City Football Group, owner of the Manchester City Football Club.

It is understood that the officials said that the new joint venture controlling the application of “patriotic” investors.

A wide range of public figures ranging from the unique founder of Tim Stokely fans to Star Youtuber Jimmy Donaldson – alias MRBEAST – have already been presented as potential partners.

Bytedance and Tiktok did not publicly comment on the agreement.

But in a statement earlier in September, Bytedance thanked Xi and Trump “for their efforts to preserve Tiktok in the United States”.

President Trump said the agreement was approved by his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during a call on September 19.

Trump said he told her to go ahead in the agreement and that “China was on board”.

But Beijing was much more kept than Washington.

“The Chinese government respects the wishes of the company and welcomes it to carry out commercial negotiations in accordance with market rules to achieve a solution in accordance with the laws and regulations of China, and establishes a balance of interest,” he said after Trump’s announcement.

Analysts believe that it is extremely unlikely that Tiktok’s parent company sells its price application without the Beijing blessing.

The Chinese government is expected to issue an export license for the Tiktok algorithm in time.

Trump also said that he would discuss the agreement with Xi Jinping at the top of economic cooperation in Asia-Pacific in South Korea at the end of October.

According to Tiktok, its American users spent 51 minutes a day on average on the application in 2024.

When the bill has been announced, many American creators who earn their lives on the application told the BBC that its loss would be devastating.

In March 2024, Tiktok urged its users to contact their political representatives to complain. Some legislators said the lobbying campaign had in fact strengthened their concerns about the application.

Experts predicted that video sharing rivals such as Instagram coils, YouTube shorts and another Chinese application, Rednote, would benefit if Tiktok was prohibited.

But even if its future in the United States has been secure, there is no guarantee that users will decide to stick to the new version of the application.

“The jury knows if this new, American application will be a real replica of the old one, with just as powerful of algorithm and experience,” said Kelsey Chickring, of the market company forrester.

Additional Lily Jamali reports