US senator probes TikTok, Oracle-linked joint venture over data security concerns

The TikTok-Oracle-linked joint venture comes again under scrutiny after US senators pressed them against data safety concerns.

U.S. Democratic Senator Ed Markey on Friday formally asked TikTok's newly formed U.S. joint venture and cloud computing giant Oracle to explain how they ‌are protecting the personal data of American users and preventing foreign entities from influencing which videos American users are shown on the app.

The move comes four months after TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance finalized a deal to transfer control of the app's U.S. user data and operations to the joint venture TikTok USDS in a bid to avoid a government ban on the platform, which is used by more than 200 million Americans.

Lawmakers have expressed frustration ‌with the lack of details about the transaction but have yet to hold any hearings.

U.S. President Donald Trump opted not to enforce a law passed in April 2024 requiring ByteDance to sell its U.S. assets by the following January or face a ban—a measure upheld by the Supreme Court.

"The divestment deal has left the Congress and the American people rightfully wondering whether President Trump’s TikTok deal is a national security risk,” Markey said in letters to Oracle and TikTok USDS.

ByteDance said TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC will protect U.S. user data, apps and algorithms through data privacy and cybersecurity measures. It has disclosed few details about the divestiture.

Markey asked Oracle and TikTok USDS to release details on “how they are protecting against national security risks, including potential Chinese-driven algorithmic manipulation."

He also urged Oracle to detail its contractual terms of the review of the underlying ByteDance source code.

The agreement provides for American and global investors to hold 80.1% of the venture while ByteDance will own 19.9%.

In September, Reuters reported that ByteDance would maintain ownership of TikTok's U.S. business operations but would cede control of the app's data, content and algorithm to the joint venture

Oracle is one of TikTok USDS JV's three managing investors. In January, TikTok said the joint venture will retrain, test and update TikTok's content recommendation algorithm on U.S. user data and the algorithm will be secured in Oracle's U.S. cloud.