China and the United States have finally reached an agreement on the future of the video app TikTok in the U.S., bringing months of uncertainty and political tension to an end. According to the White House, the final document will be signed in the coming days, confirming a deal that ensures most of TikTok’s U.S. operations will be owned by American investors. “We are 100 percent convinced that the agreement is already in place, and it only needs to be signed,” said Karoline Leavitt, spokesperson for U.S. President Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News on Saturday.
Under the agreement, software giant Oracle will take responsibility for handling data and ensuring user privacy, a crucial aspect in the ongoing debate over national security. Oracle Group, backed by Trump ally Larry Ellison, is listed among the owners of TikTok’s U.S. business. Joining Oracle are major financial investors such as Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz, while, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal, previous shareholders will retain about 20 percent of the shares.
TikTok is currently owned by its parent company Bytedance, headquartered in Beijing, which sparked concerns in Washington over the risk of sensitive American user data falling under the influence of the Chinese government. A U.S. law passed in 2024 required Bytedance to sell TikTok’s U.S. business before January 19, 2025, or the app would have had to shut down in the country.
However, upon taking office in January, Trump granted an additional deadline, which he extended several times until the present resolution. One of the most contentious issues in the negotiations was control of the algorithm that determines which videos are shown to users. In the U.S., alongside data protection concerns, there were fears that the software could be used as a tool for political manipulation by Beijing.
Although TikTok and Bytedance consistently denied these allegations, the new U.S. law explicitly states that neither the Chinese government nor the former parent company can exercise any control over the algorithm. In this way, the agreement not only guarantees the continuity of the app in the United States but also aims to strengthen public trust and shield the platform from potential foreign influence.
