On Thursday, United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order about TikTok. In this order, he explained his plan for the popular video app’s U.S. business. Trump said that TikTok’s American operations would be sold to a group of U.S. and international investors.
According to a report from Reuters on Friday, this order says that any company or group that wants to buy TikTok must follow special national security rules. These rules were written into a 2024 law. That law says TikTok would be banned in the United States if its Chinese owners do not give up control of the company.
At a press conference in the Oval Office, Vice President James Vance spoke about the deal. He said the new U.S.-controlled company would be worth about $14 billion. Vance added that this could be a good opportunity for investors. However, he also explained that it will be up to the investors themselves to decide how much money they are willing to put in and how much they think the company is really worth.
The White House also decided to give more time before the law banning TikTok takes effect. The deadline has been moved to January 20. This delay will allow more time for the sale to be completed, for investors to finalize their commitments, and for talks to continue with Chinese officials.
The fact that the executive order has been officially released shows that Trump is moving forward with the process of selling TikTok’s U.S. business. But many important details still need to be settled. One of the biggest questions is how the new American company will manage TikTok’s most important feature, its recommendation algorithm. This is the technology that chooses which videos people see and is the main reason for TikTok’s popularity.
Vice President Vance admitted that there was some hesitation from the Chinese side. Still, he said the U.S. government’s main goals were clear: they wanted TikTok to continue operating in America, but they also wanted to make sure that the personal data of American users would be kept safe and private, as the law requires.
Reuters also reported that under Trump’s order, TikTok’s algorithm will be retrained and carefully monitored by U.S. security partners. Control of the algorithm will be in the hands of the new American-led company that comes from the sale.
Trump mentioned that he personally spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the plan. According to Trump, their conversation went well.I spoke with President Xi, Trump said.We had a good talk, I told him what we were doing, and he said go ahead with it.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately give any response to Reuters’ request for a comment. TikTok itself also did not provide a statement right away about Trump’s move.
Trump has often said that TikTok played a big role in his re-election victory last year. The app has around 170 million users in the United States, and Trump himself has 15 million followers on his personal TikTok account. Just last month, the White House even launched its own official TikTok account.
“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump promised.
He also said that several very well-known business leaders and investors will be part of the deal. These include Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, and Rupert Murdoch, the long-time chairman of Fox Corp and News Corp. Trump added that four or five other world-class investors would likely join them.
