The United States has reached a deal with China over the popular social media app TikTok.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday during a press briefing that she could confirm a few details ahead of President Donald Trump’s announcement later this week where he is expected to sign an executive order finalizing the deal, which is many months in the making.
According to Leavitt, TikTok will be owned by a majority of American investors and controlled by a board of directors that have national security and cybersecurity credentials. It will be “in partnership with the U.S. government,” she said.
Computer software company Oracle will be serving as the app’s “trusted security provider” and will independently monitor the data safety and security of U.S. users on the platform. All U.S. data will be stored on servers in the United States “without access from China” and protected from “surveillance or interference by foreign adversaries,” she said.
TikTok’s algorithm, the technology that determines what users see in the feed, will be used and retrained using U.S. data as part of the deal. Leavitt said the algorithm will not be controlled by TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
American users may not see much of a change on their feeds, however. Leavitt said it will remain “globally interoperable,” which means U.S. users will be able to see videos posted by people in other countries and vice versa.
She celebrated the deal and said it would bring economic benefits to the United States. Leavitt did not confirm how much the deal would cost the American investors as the U.S. seeks to have ByteDance divest the platform.
“While I don’t have a number on this specific deal, we do expect that thanks to the president’s leadership and securement of this historic deal, businesses using TikTok will generate as much as $178 billion in economic activity within the U.S. over the next four years,” Leavitt said.
“So, this is great news, not just for the millions of American youth who use TikTok, their data will be safe and secure with this new deal, they’ll continue to use this very fun app, but it’s also great news for all the small business owners who have really been able to make a living off of the use of TikTok as well,” she continued.
Leavitt’s comments come a week after Trump signaled a deal with China over TikTok was reached.
In a post on Truth Social last week, Trump suggested that the trade and tariff meeting between U.S. and Chinese officials went “VERY WELL.” He didn’t specifically name TikTok in his post, but alluded to the app.
“A deal was also reached on a ‘certain’ company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save,” he wrote. “They will be very happy!”
Trump credits the app and young users for helping him win the 2024 presidential election.
TikTok’s fate had been up in the air for months after the U.S. ordered ByteDance to reach a deal and sell TikTok or face it being shut down in the United States. Congress passed the ban last year and the Supreme Court later upheld the ban.
The app briefly went dark for users in January, but Trump pushed the deadline to April on his first day back in office. He then signed another extension until mid-June and then again until mid-September.
Bipartisan concern centered on American users’ data being shared with the Chinese government. With several U.S. companies making initial bids for the platform, it appears the sale will ease concerns about the extremely popular social media app.
Trump said during a Fox News interview that aired Sunday that media mogul Rupert Murdoch and Michael Dell were among several people in the app’s investor group.