Last week, the Trump administration announced that a TikTok deal has been reached with China, which involves ByteDance handing the platform’s US operations to Americans. While many specifics of this arrangement are still uncertain, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has revealed a few details.
According to Leavitt, Americans will hold the majority of the board seats for the app. More specifically, they will get six out of the seven seats. These members will have national security and cybersecurity credentials. Meanwhile, China’s ByteDance will select the final board member, which will be excluded from the security committee.
Aside from that, Leavitt revealed that the US will also have control over the social media app’s algorithm. She went on to say that the details of the TikTok deal have already been agreed upon, and that the final deal will be signed “in the coming days”.
Previously, negotiations in Madrid resulted in a framework agreement, which was finalised in a call between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping last Friday. As part of this agreement, ByteDance will hold a 19.9% stake in the app, with the remaining shares owned by investors including Oracle, Andreessen Horowitz, and Silver Lake Management.
Oracle will act as the app’s security provider. Additionally, it will monitor the platform for safety and collaborate with the American government. As for the Americans’ user data, Leavitt explained that it will be stored locally, with China having no access to it.
(Source: Bloomberg)
