After years of political wrangling, national security debates, and backroom negotiations, TikTok’s future in the United States has finally been decided. On December 18, 2025, TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance signed a landmark deal to spin off the U.S. operations of the popular video-sharing app into a new entity, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, controlled by a consortium of American investors. The agreement, set to close on January 22, 2026, marks the end of a saga that has gripped Washington, Silicon Valley, and millions of users across the country.
The deal comes in response to mounting U.S. concerns about ByteDance’s ownership and the potential for foreign influence over the personal data and content feeds of more than 170 million American TikTok users. According to Axios, the new U.S. joint venture will be owned 45% by Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX, with another 5% held by other new investors. Affiliates of existing ByteDance investors will control 30.1%, while ByteDance itself will retain a 19.9% stake.
Under the agreement, the U.S. entity will take full responsibility for data protection, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurance for American users. The content recommendation algorithm—the heart of TikTok’s addictive appeal—will be retrained exclusively on U.S. user data, a move intended to ensure that the content feed is “free from outside manipulation,” as CEO Shou Chew described in an internal memo obtained by CNN and The Hollywood Reporter. Oracle, which was co-founded by Trump ally Larry Ellison, will serve as the “trusted security partner,” auditing and validating compliance with the agreed-upon National Security Terms.
“With an American majority running the content moderation, concerns about foreign propaganda seem to have been alleviated,” said Anupam Chander, a Georgetown University law professor who studies tech regulation, in an interview with NPR. “But it is possible that the American TikTok might end up censoring or hiding speech that is permissible on the global TikTok platform. I would hope that the U.S. content moderation team would allow speech that the American owners might dislike.”
The road to this agreement has been anything but smooth. The first major salvo came in 2020, when then-President Donald Trump issued an executive order demanding ByteDance sell its U.S. operations or face a ban. Congress added further pressure in 2024 by passing a law requiring ByteDance to divest roughly 80% of its U.S. assets to non-Chinese investors. The Supreme Court upheld the law in January 2025, but Trump repeatedly postponed enforcement through executive orders as his administration sought to hammer out a deal.
Negotiations ultimately involved both the White House and the Chinese government. Trump claimed in September 2025 that he had spoken directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who he said had given the deal the green light. However, the Chinese foreign ministry has kept its cards close to the vest, referring questions to “competent Chinese authorities” and reiterating that China’s position on the TikTok issue is “consistent and clear,” according to CNN.
For TikTok’s U.S. users, the deal promises continuity—at least on the surface. “We have signed agreements with investors regarding a new TikTok U.S. joint venture, enabling over 170 million Americans to continue discovering a world of endless possibilities as part of a vital global community,” Chew wrote in his memo to employees. He also thanked staff for their “continued dedication and tireless work,” emphasizing that TikTok’s focus would remain on “delivering for our users, creators, businesses and the global TikTok community.”
Yet the deal’s structure has not silenced all critics. Some lawmakers, including Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, have voiced skepticism about whether the arrangement truly safeguards American privacy. “It’s unclear that it will even put TikTok’s algorithm in safer hands,” Wyden told the BBC, questioning whether the retrained algorithm and Oracle’s oversight would be enough to prevent foreign manipulation or data misuse. He opposed the 2024 law and lobbied to extend the TikTok deadline, hoping for more time to address concerns about China’s influence.
Others argue the deal falls short of Congress’s intent. “The law requires a clean break from ByteDance. This structure doesn’t meet that standard,” said Jim Secreto, a former Treasury official who worked on TikTok policy during the Biden administration, in comments to NPR. “It looks more like a franchise deal that leaves TikTok’s core technology in China than a true divestment. By sidestepping the guardrails Congress set, the national security concerns around covert data access and manipulation of the algorithm remain unresolved.”
Still, the agreement is being hailed in some circles as a pragmatic solution to a complex international standoff. According to Alvin Graylin, a lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “TikTok has become a bargaining chip in the wider U.S.-China relationship. With recent softening tensions, Beijing’s sign-off on the structure and algorithm licensing now looks less like capitulation and more like calibrated de-escalation, letting both capitals claim a win at home.”
The deal also underscores the growing influence of Oracle and Silver Lake in the entertainment and technology sectors. Oracle founder Larry Ellison has deep ties to Hollywood, backing his son David Ellison’s successful acquisition of Paramount Skydance and supporting bids for other major studios, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter and NPR. Silver Lake, meanwhile, owns WME and has partnered with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to buy video game giant Electronic Arts.
For TikTok’s vast community of creators and small business owners—over seven million of whom use the platform to market their products and services in the U.S., according to TikTok—the outcome is both a relief and a source of uncertainty. Tiffany Cianci, a small business owner with more than 300,000 followers, told the BBC she hopes the new investors “will maintain the same user experience for entrepreneurs like her.” She added, “I reserve judgement on whether or not we have saved the app for those small businesses.”
As the January 22 closing date approaches, all eyes are on the final regulatory approvals from both U.S. and Chinese authorities. The deal’s completion would not only shape the future of TikTok in America but also set a precedent for how global tech giants navigate the competing demands of national security, user privacy, and international commerce. For now, TikTok’s American users can keep scrolling—albeit with a new team at the helm and a fresh set of rules guiding what they see.
