President Donald Trump has signed an executive order approving a proposed deal that would keep video-sharing platform TikTok operational in the U.S. while protecting national security.
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‘Qualified Divestiture’ of TikTok’s US Operations
In a fact sheet published Thursday, the White House said TikTok’s U.S. operations would undergo a “qualified divestiture” under a proposed framework agreement.
Under the proposed deal, a U.S.-based joint venture would operate TikTok’s U.S. application, which will be majority-owned by U.S. investors, run by a board with cybersecurity and national security credentials and subject to strict rules to safeguard U.S. national security and data.
TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance will hold less than 20 percent of the stock, appoint only one director of the seven-seat board.
According to the order, ByteDance will be excluded from the company’s security committee.
The Trump administration designates Oracle as TikTok’s security provider responsible for monitoring and assuring the safety of all operations in the U.S.
Removing TikTok’s US Application From Foreign Control
According to the fact sheet, the proposed divestiture would remove TikTok’s U.S. application from China’s control, addressing national security concerns and complying with the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.
Under the deal, the new joint venture will oversee the operation of the algorithm, code and content moderation decisions.
The proposed divestiture includes monitoring of the algorithm, software updates and data flows and tasks Oracle to operate a secure cloud environment in which all U.S. user data will be stored.
The EO directs the Attorney General not to enforce the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act for 120 days to provide time for the divestiture process to be completed.
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