US to Control TikTok’s Algorithm, White House Says

The White House. Credit: Cezary Piwowarczyk CC BY SA 4.0

The US volition instrumentality power of TikTok’s almighty algorithm nether a pending statement to displacement the societal media platform’s US operations to American ownership, according to White House property caput Karoline Leavitt.

The determination would springiness US officials oversight of the strategy that determines what contented appears successful users’ feeds—a cardinal diagnostic down TikTok’s popularity.

The deal, which Leavitt said is finalized but awaiting signatures, is being coordinated betwixt the president’s squad and Chinese counterparts. She added that the statement is expected to beryllium signed successful the coming days.

As portion of the arrangement, US tech institution Oracle volition negociate American information and privateness operations for TikTok. A caller committee overseeing the level volition see 7 seats, six of which volition beryllium held by US representatives, Leavitt confirmed.

Control implicit TikTok’s algorithm has been a cardinal contented successful negotiations. The feature, often described arsenic the motor of the app’s success, sets TikTok isolated from competitors by personalizing contented successful its “For You” feed.

ByteDance, the platform’s Chinese genitor company, had antecedently resisted selling TikTok with its algorithm attached, complicating aboriginal talks.

Major US investors to pb ownership

Leavitt besides stated that a consortium of US-based investors, including Oracle, Andreessen Horowitz, and Silver Lake, volition pb the deal. Chinese investors could inactive clasp the remaining 20 percent of the US business.

The breakthrough follows a telephone telephone past week betwixt President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, which Trump described arsenic productive.

Senior White House officials connected TikTok deal:

Trump wants “patriotic” TikTok investors.

US authorities volition clasp nary equity.

ByteDance to support <20% of US TikTok.

Algorithm to beryllium retrained successful US, reviewed by Oracle.

Deal to adjacent successful 120 days. pic.twitter.com/3iQ3lXZVIX

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) September 22, 2025

He said some sides made meaningful advancement toward resolving outstanding issues tied to the transaction.

Congress passed a instrumentality successful April 2024 banning TikTok unless it transferred astatine slightest 80 percent of its US assets to American investors.

The app concisely went offline successful the United States connected January 18, 1 time earlier the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act took effect and 2 days earlier Trump returned to office.

Political and commercialized discourse down the deal

The shutdown was postponed aft Trump granted 4 extensions, allowing his medication clip to scope a deal.

TikTok has astir 170 cardinal users successful the United States, galore of them nether 30 years old. According to Pew Research, younger voters showed much enactment for Trump successful the 2024 predetermination than successful erstwhile years.

Talks betwixt Washington and Beijing had stalled earlier this twelvemonth pursuing a question of tariffs connected Chinese goods.

Negotiations resumed aft some countries eased commercialized tensions. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the 2 leaders expressed involvement successful moving forward, though nationalist information remained a sticking point.

Trump and Xi are expected to conscionable successful idiosyncratic astatine the APEC Summit successful South Korea adjacent month.