A senior official from President Donald Trump’s administration said on Monday that tech giant Oracle would get a copy of the algorithm that powers TikTok for US users. Figuring out what to do with the algorithm, which is currently owned by the Beijing-based company ByteDance, has been a major focus during the negotiations about TikTok’s future.
The official, who asked to remain anonymous, said they believe the deal will address national security concerns if TikTok separates from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. Earlier, before leaving office, President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan law that required ByteDance to sell its assets to an American company or face a ban.
TikTok algorithm issue
American officials have warned that the algorithm—which determines what users see on the app—could be manipulated by Chinese authorities to secretly shape the content on the platform.
“It wouldn't be in compliance if the algorithm is Chinese. There can't be any shared algorithm with ByteDance,” a spokesperson for the House Select Committee on China said.
Under the plan, Oracle will get a copy of the algorithm and manage the app's security. The algorithm would be "fully inspected and retrained," a senior White House official said. In a later call with reporters, the official emphasized that the content formula would be retrained using only US data to make sure the system is "behaving appropriately".
It's currently unclear if retraining the US copy of the algorithm with local data would create a separate TikTok experience just for American users.
"The president will sign an executive order later this week, which will essentially declare that the terms of this deal meet America’s national security needs,” the White House official said. He noted that Trump would then grant a 120-day reprieve to finalize the necessary agreements.
Board to have majority of American members
Full details on investors haven’t been released, but the official confirmed that the US operations would be a new joint venture with a board of directors that has a majority of American members. So far, Oracle and private equity firm Silver Lake are the only confirmed participants. The White House official also mentioned that, under this preliminary deal (which still needs to be approved by Chinese officials), the US won’t take an ownership stake in the new venture or have a spot on the controlling committee.
President Trump, a Republican, has extended the deadline several times as he worked to reach a deal to keep TikTok available. He spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.
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