TikTok’s US operations ceded under pressure to Donald Trump supporters

Donald Trump has signed an executive order setting out the terms of the sale of TikTok’s US operations to several of his wealthy supporters, while the platform’s Chinese parent company will retain only a minority stake.

From the Oval Office, the US president said the American version of the platform would be run by “highly sophisticated” investors, including Larry Ellison, head of technology giant Oracle, Michael Dell, founder of Dell, and media magnate Rupert Murdoch.

According to several media reports, investment firm Silver Lake Partners and Silicon Valley heavyweight Andreessen Horowitz are also expected to be part of the deal. According to the executive order issued by the White House on Thursday evening, ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, will retain a stake of “less than 20%”.

The new investors are all allies of Donald Trump and share his political views, but the US president insisted that the app would not be subject to any partisan bias.

“Every group, every philosophy, every policy will be treated very fairly,” Donald Trump said, though he conceded that if he could, he would have made the social network “100% MAGA” (“Make America Great Again”), a reference to the movement he founded.

The president confirmed that the US version of TikTok would use a copy of the app’s algorithm, considered key to its success. “Our fundamental goal was to keep TikTok running, while ensuring that we protect Americans’ data privacy, in accordance with the law,” US Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday.

Last spring, TikTok had already moved pre-emptively in response to US pressure by cutting jobs within its local TikTok teams and its marketplace business, TikTok Shop. TikTok Shop boasts more than 500,000 active merchants in the American market, which served as a test before being rolled out in Europe, particularly in France. In March, two French MPs also launched a commission of inquiry into the psychological effects of the short-video platform on minors.

“Support from China”

Congress, which feared that Chinese authorities would access US users’ data or modify the algorithm to influence them, passed a law in 2024 forcing TikTok to separate from ByteDance, under threat of a ban. Donald Trump has repeatedly extended the deadline in order to reach a takeover agreement. According to the executive order published on Thursday, it now runs until January 23, 2026.

JD Vance, a former venture capitalist who led the team tasked with finding a solution for TikTok, said the US entity would be valued at around $14 billion, while adding that the final say would rest with investors.

Asked about approval of the deal by Chinese authorities, Donald Trump said that President Xi Jinping had given the green light during a phone call last week.

“I have a lot of respect for President Xi, and I very much appreciate that he approved the deal, because to get it done, we really needed China’s support,” he said.

During the phone call between the two presidents, Xi Jinping asked his US counterpart to avoid “unilateral” trade restrictions and to preserve a “non-discriminatory” climate for Chinese companies, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.

“We hope the US will provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies investing in the US,” Guo Jiakun, spokesperson for Beijing’s Foreign Ministry, told reporters on Friday, following the executive order signed by Donald Trump. Contacted by AFP, ByteDance and TikTok did not immediately respond.

(with AFP)