The United States and China appear to be edging toward an agreement on the future of TikTok’s American operations, with details emerging that ByteDance, TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, will retain a small role in the restructured entity. According to a senior White House official, ByteDance will be allowed to appoint one board member, while six other directors will be Americans with expertise in national security and cybersecurity.
The deal comes after months of tense negotiations and political wrangling following a 2024 law passed by Congress requiring TikTok to either divest its U.S. assets or face a nationwide ban by January 2025. With 170 million users in the U.S., TikTok has become a central battleground in debates over data privacy, foreign influence, and national security.
Former President Donald Trump, who delayed enforcement of the law until mid-December, is pushing to ensure TikTok remains available in the U.S. He has framed the agreement as both a political and economic breakthrough, crediting TikTok with playing a role in his re-election campaign and noting that he has 15 million followers on the platform. The White House itself recently launched an official TikTok account, highlighting its continued relevance.
The latest proposal outlines that American investors will hold majority ownership of TikTok’s U.S. assets. ByteDance would retain less than 20% of shares in the joint venture overseeing the app’s American operations. Current ByteDance investors include Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic, and KKR.
Another key element of the agreement involves TikTok’s highly scrutinized recommendation algorithm. The White House official explained that the algorithm will be “secured, retrained, and operated entirely within the United States” under U.S. supervision. It will use only American user data and will no longer be under ByteDance’s control. U.S. officials have long warned that the algorithm could be exploited to manipulate social media content for political purposes. While reports suggested the algorithm might be licensed from ByteDance, the official stressed that it would be rebuilt and reviewed to eliminate security risks.
Data storage will also shift fully to U.S.-based cloud infrastructure managed by Oracle, the American software giant. This arrangement is designed to ensure that American user data cannot be accessed by foreign entities.
Despite the apparent progress, skepticism remains on Capitol Hill. Representative Frank Pallone, a Democrat, cautioned that the agreement must guarantee a complete separation of TikTok’s U.S. operations from Chinese influence. “The devil will be in the details,” he warned. “We cannot allow China to continue access to massive amounts of Americans’ personal data, and we cannot allow Trump to hand TikTok over to his tech bro buddies and turn it into a MAGA mouthpiece.”
Trump announced that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had discussed TikTok directly in a recent phone call and planned to meet face-to-face within six weeks. Beijing, however, has yet to provide clear confirmation of how far negotiations have advanced.
As part of the arrangement, Trump is expected to grant another 120-day extension to the deadline, pushing the final decision into April. While the deal would avert an immediate shutdown, questions remain over whether the agreement meets the strict requirements of the 2024 law mandating full divestiture.
For now, the agreement signals rare cooperation between Washington and Beijing, even as larger trade tensions persist. Whether it will satisfy lawmakers and regulators—and ultimately preserve TikTok’s presence in the U.S.—remains to be seen
