On September 22, 2025, the White House made it official: Oracle will take the reins of TikTok’s U.S. algorithm, marking a dramatic new chapter in the saga over the wildly popular video app’s future in America. The move, greenlit by President Donald Trump, follows months of heated debate in Washington and Beijing, and it’s set to reshape the way TikTok operates on American soil.
Under the terms of the national security agreement, Oracle is tasked with rebuilding TikTok’s recommendation software entirely within the United States. According to a White House statement reported by Cryptopolitan, this shift aims to "cut off Chinese access" and fulfill legal requirements that ByteDance, TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, fully divest its U.S. operations. Oracle will retrain the algorithm "from the ground up" using a leased version from ByteDance, and all American user data will reside in Oracle’s secure cloud systems.
The deal’s contours are as complex as they are consequential. ByteDance will no longer have access to TikTok’s U.S. algorithm, user data, or any software operations inside the country. In fact, the Chinese company’s stake in the new U.S. entity will drop below 20%, with the remaining majority held by American investors. The new board of directors will feature seven members—six Americans and one ByteDance representative, who will be excluded from the company’s security committee, as detailed by Bloomberg.
"Oracle, the U.S. security partner, will operate, retrain, and continuously monitor the U.S. algorithm to ensure content is free from improper manipulation or surveillance," declared the official Q&A released by the White House on Monday. The White House has not specified the extent of federal agency oversight over Oracle’s operations, but it made clear the company will be responsible for ensuring "improper manipulation is prevented." The specifics of how this will be achieved, however, remain somewhat opaque.
The national security concerns that prompted this deal have been simmering for years. Lawmakers from both parties have repeatedly warned that TikTok could be used by the Chinese government to collect data on Americans or sway public opinion. The U.S. law forcing ByteDance to divest from TikTok, passed by Congress in April 2024, strictly prohibits the Chinese company from participating in any U.S. version of the app, including its technology. At the same time, Chinese law bans companies from exporting what it deems sensitive software, complicating the process.
The workaround? ByteDance will lease its algorithm to the new U.S. entity, which Oracle will then retrain and manage. This approach sidesteps a total sale of the algorithm, which would have prevented ByteDance from running TikTok in other countries. As Quartz reported, the U.S. version will be a "duplicate copy" of the original, leased to a joint venture including Oracle, Andreessen Horowitz, and Silver Lake Management.
Some lawmakers remain skeptical. John Moolenaar, the Republican chair of the House Select Committee on China, cautioned that the arrangement "may involve ongoing reliance by the new TikTok on a ByteDance algorithm and application that could allow continued" influence by the Chinese Communist Party. The risk of backend entanglement, he warned, is not entirely off the table despite Oracle’s full responsibility for the U.S. version.
President Trump, who returned to the White House after the 2024 elections, is expected to sign an executive order this week to finalize his approval of the deal. In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Trump confirmed that Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell will likely be involved in the new ownership group. "You know, they’re very well-known people," Trump said. "And Larry Ellison is one of them. He’s involved. He’s a great guy. Michael Dell is involved." He added, "I hate to tell you this, but a man named Lachlan is involved," referring to Lachlan Murdoch. Rupert Murdoch is "probably going to be in the group," Trump said.
Trump also revealed that he had held a call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, just hours before the public announcement. In his words: "I had a great call with President Xi and as you know, and approved the TikTok deal, and we’re in the process." That same week, Trump extended the deadline for ByteDance’s divestment by another 120 days, on top of a previous 90-day extension, pushing the compliance deadline to mid-December 2025. The White House confirmed that U.S. users will not need to re-download the TikTok app as a result of the changes.
The new TikTok entity will be controlled by American investors whose names have not all been made public. Oracle, Andreessen Horowitz, and Silver Lake are confirmed as part of the ownership consortium. The U.S. government will have the right to name one board member, with other American business leaders filling out the majority of seats. The changes aim to assure lawmakers and the public that TikTok’s U.S. operations are insulated from foreign influence.
This deal builds on Oracle’s existing partnership with TikTok, known as Project Texas, which already includes cloud hosting for U.S. and international user data. Now, the partnership expands to cover algorithm security, user surveillance protections, and development infrastructure. Oracle’s role isn’t just technical; it’s also financial, as the company joins the investment consortium steering TikTok’s U.S. future.
The Chinese government, for its part, has signaled cautious approval. In a statement on September 19, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, "The Chinese government respects the wishes of the company in question, and would be happy to see productive commercial negotiations in keeping with market rules lead to a solution that complies with China’s laws and regulations and takes into account the interests of both sides." During last week’s negotiations, the Chinese government reportedly agreed to the terms governing control over the app’s security.
Still, the deal leaves some questions hanging in the air. Will Oracle’s retraining of the algorithm truly eliminate any chance of improper manipulation or surveillance? Can the new structure satisfy the most hawkish voices in Congress, who have pressed for a complete ban? And will ByteDance’s reduced but persistent stake in the U.S. entity continue to attract scrutiny?
President Trump has hinted at a potential "fee plus" for allowing the deal to proceed, though details remain unclear. What is certain is that the agreement represents a rare moment of consensus between the U.S. and China on a matter that has often been a flashpoint. For now, TikTok’s tens of millions of American users can keep scrolling, at least until the next deadline arrives.
With Oracle at the helm and a patchwork of private equity, tech, and media titans behind the wheel, TikTok’s U.S. future is taking shape—one algorithmic recommendation at a time.
