President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday, clarifying the way for the sale of American operations of Tiktok in a consortium, which includes outstanding Trump sponsors, which may allow years Problems of national security Above the application belonging to the Chinese, but also raises new questions about political bias on the platform.
Among the Oracle-founder Larry Ellison, Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son Lahlan from Fox Corporation, and the founder of Dell Technologies, Michael Delle Group of Trump's allies, which some fear can have their own political influence on the American version of Tiktok.
But speaking at the signing ceremony of the White House, Trump downplayed these problems and insisted that the recently structured platform would not become an echo for his own political movement. “I always like the mage associated with the magician. “But this will not work in this way. Unfortunately, no, everyone will be true. Each group, every philosophy, every policy, will be very fair. ”
The transaction was concluded after many years of warnings from national security officials, which Tiktok, owned by the Chinese company ByTedance, can be used by China for A spy on the Americans Or manipulate the fact that its 170 million US users see in their channels. Trump's executive order is the last step in a protracted battle to solve these fears, preserving the application available to its extensive American audience.
The order announces the proposed agreement with a “qualified excess” in accordance with the two -party law adopted by Congress last year, in which Baedance sells approximately 80% of his business in the United States, not Chinese owners, or encounters a prohibition of the United States under a developing agreement, BYTEDANCE will maintain a possession of less than 20%, while the consorties of American investors will be Control the US Opinion. But while Trump's executive order notes the milestone in the saga, stretching back, the deal remains far from the final, with key details, including the full line of investors and the permission of the regulatory authorities, is still vaguely.
The Vice -President of JD Vance, who led negotiations with BYTEDANCE, formulated an agreement as a victory for national security. “We wanted Tiktok to work, but we also wanted to make sure that we defended the confidentiality of the Americans data in accordance with the requirements of the law,” he said at the signing ceremony. “This deal really means that Americans can use Tiktok, but actually use it with more confidence than in the past, because their data will be safe, and it will not be used as propaganda weapons against our fellow citizens.”
He added that the restructured company will be estimated at $ 14 billion, and emphasized that “American investors will actually control the algorithm,” the central demand of lawmakers who feared that the Chinese government could manipulate political discourse through the application.
The Biden administration previously pushed Baitedan to cancel Tiktok’s operations in the United States, negotiating with a plan for a plan that would place American user data under a more strict internal supervision. In 2024, former President Joe Biden signed a bicopartican law adopted by Congress, which gave the presidents an obvious authority to ban or force the sale of applications belonging to foreign persons, which are considered risk of security-audit Trump now uses to bless the deal that transfers the Tiktoku to the US investors consortium, and does not close it.
Tiktok for a while darkened in the United States in January, before Trump instructed his administration not to apply the ban on his first day in the White House. The general director of Tiktok, the Zh Chu show took part in Trump's inauguration and received the main place to sit on help along with key members of his office and other technical leaders.
Trump personally spoke on Thursday about the political influence of Tiktok, noting that he used the application to cover the younger voters during his 2024 campaign. “We received record voices with young voters,” he said. “So I was a little biased in this way towards Tiktok – it was very good and very significant.”
Forty -three percent of adults under the age of 30 receive their news from Tiktok, according to In drinking -research center.
