President Trump finally inked a $14 billion TikTok deal to keep the app alive
On Thursday afternoon, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that facilitates the sale of TikTok to a group of American investors. So, is TikTok officially off the chopping block in the United States? Not quite. Technically, the deal still hasn't been finalized, according to CNN.
The executive order declares that the TikTok deal meets the requirements of a 2024 law that banned TikTok from operating in the United States. Moving forward, data for U.S. users would be managed by Oracle, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has said that the U.S. algorithm would also be controlled domestically. In addition, Vice President JD Vance said the deal values the U.S. TikTok assets at $14 billion, per Deadline.
In addition to Oracle, the new consortium of owners could include Oracle head Larry Ellison, Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, and Fox Corp.
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This comes after years of Trump posturing and signing executive orders to hold off the Biden-era ban, which also took years of posturing and debating.
ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, has been on a timeline to either find a new owner or get banned in the U.S. due to security reasons. Trump has signed executive orders to extend the deadline time and time again. Finally, after talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the leaders struck a deal.
Topics TikTok
Christianna Silva is a senior culture reporter covering social platforms and the creator economy, with a focus on the intersection of social media, politics, and the economic systems that govern us. Since joining Mashable in 2021, they have reported extensively on meme creators, content moderation, and the nature of online creation under capitalism.
Before joining Mashable, they worked as an editor at NPR and MTV News, a reporter at Teen Vogue and VICE News, and as a stablehand at a mini-horse farm. You can follow her on Bluesky @christiannaj.bsky.social and Instagram @christianna_j.
