New details about a deal with China over the future of TikTok in the United States emerged Tuesday.
After Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with a Chinese delegation in Madrid on Monday, he said the two countries had agreed on a deal “framework.” President Donald Trump confirmed the news to reporters outside the White House on Tuesday, saying: “We have a deal on TikTok. I’ve reached a deal with China. I’m going to speak to President Xi on Friday to confirm everything up.” He added: “The kids wanted it so badly.”
A consortium of what Trump described as “very big” American companies, which could include software giant Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, will control the majority of TikTok’s U.S. business, according to The Wall Street Journal. (None of the companies could immediately be reached for comment.)
The Journal noted that the final terms of the deal could still change. CNBC reported that the deal is expected to close in the next 30 to 45 days.
Seemingly crucial to the deal was agreement on the use of intellectual property rights — such as TikTok’s algorithm that recommends videos to users, a key function of the app that drives its success. Under the new deal, American engineers would reportedly oversee the algorithm in the U.S. and handle American users’ data, instead of China.
Congress, citing national security concerns, voted in April 2024 to ban the app if its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, did not divest it. As a result, TikTok went offline briefly in the U.S. in January, ahead of Trump retaking office. Trump has repeatedly extended the congressionally imposed deadline for ByteDance to divest or face a ban. On Tuesday, he extended the deadline to Dec. 16, preventing the app from going offline until a deal is closed. American users may eventually have to download a new app. In a statement, a senior White House official told MSNBC: “Any details of the TikTok framework are pure speculation unless they are announced by this administration.”
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter and producer for MS NOW. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.
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