Tiktok operations in the US will be mostly owned and controlled, according to an agreement closed this week to separate the platform from Chinese property, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
In an interview with Fox NewsLeavitt said on Saturday that Americans will have six of Tiktok’s seven chairs and that the video app algorithm will be controlled by the US. She added that the final agreement will be signed in the coming days.
American board members will have national security credentials and cybersecurity, and the remaining member, chosen by the current owner bytedance Ltd., will be excluded from the Security Committee, according to a high White House employee.
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Negotiations earlier this week between US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese vice-minister He Lifeng in Madrid resulted in a folding agreement for the split of Tiktok operations in the US bytedance. The details of this agreement have not yet been disclosed. President Donald Trump extended the deadline for Tiktok’s divestment until December 16. Congress passed a bipartisan law requiring bytedance to get out of Tiktok until January 2025.
“All these details have already been agreed, now we just need the agreement to be signed, which, I predict, will happen in the coming days,” Leavitt said. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping finished the deal on a telephone call on Friday.
The agreement provides that Bytedance holds less than 20%, with new investors including Oracle, Andreessen Horowitz and Private Equity Firm Silver Lake Management LLC, according to the employee.
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Oracle will act as Tiktok’s security provider and monitor the application to ensure security, working with the US government, and US data will be stored in the US without China’s access, the White House official said.
The employee said the deal will allow American users to continue using the popular application safely.
“Data and privacy will be led by one of the largest technology companies in the US, Oracle, and the algorithm will also be controlled by the US,” Leavitt said.
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Trump has been a critic of Tiktok, but changed his opinion about the app, crediting him for helping him gain support among young people in last year’s election.
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