President Donald Trump signed an executive order authorizing the sale of the TikTok operations in the United States to a consortium of American and international investors valued at 14 billion dollars and declared a national security victory, joking that he would be more comfortable with the TikTok algorithm being 100% MAGA.
In his speech in the Oval Office, Trump said, “I always like MAGA-related. If I could, I'd make it 100% MAGA-related. It's actually a good question, but I would, yeah.”
“If I could make it 100% MAGA, I would, but it's not going to work out that way, unfortunately. No, everyone's going to be treated fairly. Every group, every philosophy, every policy will be treated very fairly,” he added.
This light comment was made only a few moments after he had asserted that Chinese President Xi Jinping had given the green light on the deal.
The sale, which is mandated by a 2024 law that requires TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance to divest its operations in the United States by a ban date of January 2025, is proceeding under strict national security criteria.
The critical recommendation algorithm on the platform will be retrained, monitored and controlled by the new U.S.-based entity.
Vice President JD Vance estimated the U.S. operation to be worth $14 billion - far less than the previous estimates of the analysts.
Approximately half of the new company will be owned by Oracle and Silver Lake, the private equity firm, and the rest will consist of investors of ByteDance and other international partners, including Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch.
Although the White House stresses that the new TikTok will run entirely by Americans, Chinese media outlets report that even in the new version, the operational connection between the two might be maintained, which rises questions about how much control the US will have over it.
Trump attributes his re-election to the power of TikTok and boasts of 15 million followers on the application. It was a security question, and at the same time an opportunity question, he said.
The Republican members of the legislature have demanded further transparency in deal in order to achieve a clean break from Chinese influence.
