By New York Times

Copyright staradvertiser

The software giant Oracle will oversee the security of Americans’ data and monitor changes and updates to TikTok’s powerful recommendation technology under a new deal to avert a ban of the service, according to a senior White House official.

A copy of the algorithm, the recommendation engine that powers the app’s addictive feed of short videos, will be licensed from China to an American investor group that will oversee the app in the United States, the official said.

Oracle will also invest in the new American TikTok, as will private equity firm Silver Lake, another senior official said.

It will be “secured” in the United States outside the control of TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, one of the officials said. The U.S.-run TikTok will work to retrain the copy on users’ data in the United States, and China will not have access to the data, the officials added.

The deal is an effort to meet the requirements of a law that would have banned TikTok in the United States unless ByteDance relinquished control of the app. It was intended to address national security concerns that the app’s ownership could give Beijing a channel to spread propaganda or to collect sensitive data about Americans. Last week, President Donald Trump extended the deadline for its enforcement for a fourth time.

Who controls the algorithm has been a central issue in the debate over TikTok’s ties to China. Chinese law says that algorithm must remain under Beijing’s control. But U.S. law requires TikTok to be cut off from any “operational relationship” with ByteDance, “including any cooperation with respect to the operation of a content recommendation algorithm.”

Trump and administration officials have been discussing a deal to give Western investors a controlling stake in the app’s U.S. operations.

Under the terms of the deal, American companies will own around 80% of the U.S. version of the app. ByteDance and other Chinese investors will own less than 20%.

In the United States, TikTok will be operated by a board of directors with national security and cybersecurity credentials, one of the senior officials said. ByteDance will choose one director on the seven-member board, and that person will be excluded from TikTok’s security committee.

The exact mix of investors has been in flux. Trump hinted this weekend that media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan were considering an investment, which could come through the media giant Fox Corp., a person familiar with the talks said.

The president is expected to issue an executive order later this week that declares that the terms of the deal meet national security concerns and divestiture requirements, one of the officials said. It still requires regulatory review and approval, they said.

Last week, Trump said the United States would receive a “tremendous fee” for putting the deal together. No details on an exact amount were shared. In recent months, the Trump administration has negotiated and obtained a 10% stake in Intel, and a “golden share” in U.S. Steel as part of its sale to Nippon Steel. One of the White House officials said today that the government would not take a stake in TikTok the way it did with U.S. Steel.

The deal outlined today has similarities to another plan developed by ByteDance years ago, called Project Texas, which aimed to address policymakers’ national security concerns about TikTok.

That plan, like the one outlined today, would have seen all U.S.-origin user data from TikTok stored on domestic servers operated by Oracle. Then, too, Oracle and a third party would have reviewed TikTok’s source code to make sure it was not manipulated. Some of that plan was put in effect in recent years.

It may be some time before there is ink on paper for a deal. The officials said today that the president would extend the deadline for an additional 120 days to allow time for the transaction to take place.

Also today, Oracle promoted two executives, Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia, to be the company’s co-CEOs. Its current chief, Safra Catz, was named executive vice chair of Oracle’s board.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

© 2025 The New York Times Company