President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday enabling TikTok to continue operating in the United States under a joint operation of American investors that dilutes the share of power the Chinese company ByteDance has over the social media platform.
“I had a very good talk with President Xi [Jinping]. A lot of respect for him. Hopefully, he has a lot of respect for me, too. And we talked about TikTok and other things, but we talked about TikTok, and he gave us the go-ahead,” said Trump, flanked by Vice President JD Vance, who helped lead the TikTok negotiations, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
WHITE HOUSE RELEASES DETAILS ON DEAL TO SAVE TIKTOK IN US
“There was some resistance on the Chinese side, but the fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that we wanted to keep TikTok operating,” Vance added. “But we also wanted to make sure that we protected Americans’ data privacy as required by law. Both because it’s the right thing to do but also because it’s a legal requirement of the law that was passed last year by Congress.
“This deal really does mean that Americans can use TikTok, but actually use it with more confidence than they had in the past, because their data is going to be secure and it’s not going to be used as a propaganda weapon against our fellow citizens,” he continued.
White House officials previewed details of the order on Monday, including the company Oracle providing security measures over TikTok’s algorithm. Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi’s MGX are also taking key leadership roles in the joint operation.
“What this proposal would do is move TikTok U.S. operations into a new joint venture that is going to be based in the United States,” a senior White House official told reporters Monday morning. “It’s going to have a majority of American investors and owners, and a majority-American board of directors.”
Trump added that Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Technologies, and conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch, along with “probably four or five absolutely world-class investors that love the country,” will be involved in the investment.
The president expressed gratitude to China for approving the deal, but he also said China wouldn’t have any operational role in implementing the plan.
“I don’t think so. Not that I know. We’re going to be — this is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said when asked. “And great respect for President Xi, and I very much appreciate that he approved the deal. Because to get it done properly, we really needed the support of China and the approval of China.”
The vice president claimed that TikTok would be valued at roughly $14 billion.
TRUMP DELAYS TIKTOK BAN UNTIL DECEMBER AFTER ANNOUNCING DEAL WITH CHINA
Congress passed a bipartisan law in 2024, while former President Joe Biden was still in office, requiring TikTok to divest from its Chinese-based owner, ByteDance. The new executive order works around the requirements of the law.
Trump previously signed an executive order delaying the banning of TikTok in the U.S. until Dec. 16 to comply with the law. But the new order eliminates the need for any further delays of the law.
