President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to keep TikTok operational in the United States, despite growing concerns that the app’s algorithm might distribute more MAGA-related content.
The order strengthens the president’s initiative to maintain access to the highly popular social media platform in the U.S. after lawmakers earlier this year passed a law demanding the app’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to significantly divest for TikTok to remain available.
The bipartisan legislation mandates that 80 percent of TikTok’s ownership must be held by U.S. investors, with ByteDance expected to retain less than 20 percent of the app’s ownership.
Some critics are raising alarm bells that Trump’s deal may have simply traded foreign influence for home-grown Trump-friendly billionaires.
‘Turns out the financial benefits of Trump’s TikTok deal are going to his own billionaire allies. Insanely corrupt,’ criticized Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia on X.
There are concerns that Trump-aligned investors, including Oracle’s Trump-supporting chairman Larry Ellison, may influence the platform’s powerful algorithm to promote pro-Republican content to TikTok’s 170 million American users.
When questioned about whether the new ownership would aim to promote MAGA content, the president dismissed the idea, stating that the app will be fair to all viewpoints.
‘If I could make it 100 percent MAGA, I would, but it’s not going to work that way, unfortunately, no. Everyone’s going to be treated fairly,’ Trump said. ‘Every group, every philosophy, every policy will be treated very fairly,’ he pledged.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to solidify a deal for U.S. investors to take a majority stake in the social media app TikTok
TikTok and ByteDance, the app’s Chinese parent company, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of the deal
Neither ByteDance nor TikTok immediately returned the Daily Mail’s request for comment on the status of the deal. The deal still needs to be confirmed by the companies and Chinese officials.
The order signed Thursday gives all parties involved an additional 120 days to finalize the terms.
Congress has warned the platform can spy on its U.S. users’ locations and dictate its algorithm to conduct influence campaigns, making it a national security threat.
Trump confirmed that Chinese President Xi Jinping is supportive of the agreement when the two spoke last week.
‘I had a very good talk with President Xi … we talked about TikTok and he gave us the go ahead,’ Trump said Thursday in the Oval Office.
Though the negotiations were not without difficulty, Vice President JD Vance noted.
‘There was some resistance on the Chinese side, but the fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that we wanted to keep TikTok operating, but we also wanted to make sure that we protected Americans data privacy as required by law,’ Vance shared.
‘What this deal ensures is that the American entity and the American investors will actually control the algorithm,’ the VP stated. ‘We don’t want this used as a propaganda tool by any foreign government.’
Trump used TikTok heavily during his campaign where he regularly posted videos, like the one above urging people to vote on Election Day 2024
He also shared that TikTok is currently valued at $14 billion. However, other estimates indicate the app could be worth as much as $30 to $50 billion.
The group of U.S. investors includes tech giant Oracle, which currently hosts TikTok’s user data on its servers, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Michael Dell of Dell Technologies and more.
Vance said additional investors will be announced at a later date.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was present at the Oval Office announcement, noted how there are two distinct prongs to the transaction, one commercial and the other governmental – both of which the VP has been heavily involved in.
‘The Vice President’s office has worked since the spring for the commercial transaction between the investor groups and then Treasury, and including the Vice President’s office, were in Madrid two weeks ago to negotiate with the Chinese
Trump shared that the U.S. will not be receiving an annual payment from the company because of the deal, instead noting how it will bring in a lot of tax revenue.
The president also mentioned how critical the app has been to growing U.S. small businesses that advertise on the platform.
‘It’s a very important thing for small business. It’s another reason I wanted to do the deal,’ Trump said.
Trump last week signed an executive order to extend the deadline for ByteDance to divest from the platform to allow it to remain operational as the deal finalizes.
The order specifically disallows the Justice Department from enforcing the national security law passed by Congress that would penalize app store operators that allow TikTok to continue being downloaded in the U.S.
