White House details TikTok deal giving US control over algorithm

The White House has outlined terms of a landmark deal under which American companies would take control of TikTok’s algorithm, while six of the seven board seats overseeing the app’s US operations would be held by Americans.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the agreement could be signed “within days,” though Beijing has not yet publicly responded. The United States has long pushed to separate TikTok’s American arm from its Chinese parent, ByteDance, citing national security risks.

Earlier, Washington had ordered TikTok to divest its U.S. business or face a nationwide ban. However, US President Donald Trump repeatedly delayed the enforcement of that order, extending the deadline four times since it was first issued in January and again this week to December.

Under the terms described by Leavitt, management of US user data and privacy will be overseen by Oracle, chaired by billionaire Larry Ellison, a close Trump ally. “The data and privacy will be led by one of America’s greatest tech companies, Oracle, and the algorithm will also be controlled by America,” Leavitt told Fox News. “All of those details have been agreed upon. Now we just need the deal signed.”

Oracle’s involvement further strengthens the Ellison family’s growing influence in U.S. media and technology. Larry Ellison’s son, David Ellison, recently acquired Paramount, parent company of CBS News.

On Friday, Trump said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had reached a “productive” understanding over the app’s future during a phone conversation, claiming Xi approved the arrangement. Beijing has not confirmed this. China’s Commerce Ministry issued a cautious statement on Saturday, stressing that negotiations should proceed “in accordance with market rules” while complying with Chinese law. Meanwhile, state news agency Xinhua quoted Xi as saying China “welcomes negotiations over TikTok,” but did not affirm a concrete agreement.

The main sticking point in the talks has been ownership and control of TikTok’s powerful recommendation algorithm, which drives content to its 170 million U.S. users. While Trump has avoided clarifying whether an American buyer would have to create a new algorithm or continue using the existing one, the current deal indicates control of the technology will rest with U.S. firms.

Although Trump previously advocated banning TikTok during his first term, his position shifted as the app became a central tool in his 2024 re-election campaign to connect with younger voters.

In January, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a 2024 law mandating ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. assets or face a ban. The app briefly went offline before the Biden administration paused the ban amid negotiations.

The Justice Department has repeatedly warned that TikTok’s access to U.S. user data poses a national security risk of “immense depth and scale.”