1 of 3 | President Donald Trump signs an executive order facilitating the transfer of TikTok owners to the United States in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI | License Photo
U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order detailing terms of a deal to transfer ownership of the social media company TikTok to the United States from China.
Trump said during the signing ceremony that he and China’s President Xi Jinping have agreed to terms that would allow TikTok, currently owned by Chinese company ByteDance, to continue operating in the United States.
“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said during the signing Thursday. “I have great respect for President Xi, and I very much appreciate the deal, because to get it done properly, we really need the support of China and the approval of China.”
In a social media post, Trump said he would talk with Xi again about the deal.
Trump said the deal complies with a law that would have forced the popular social media app to shut down for use in the United States had it not been sold to U.S. owners.
The deal calls for U.S. investors to retain a majority of TikTok’s operations and assume control of a licensed copy of its recommendation algorithm. American companies will own about 80% of the company when the deal is completed. The remaining 20% will remain with Chinese owners and ByteDance.
The social media app will be overseen by a seven-member board of cybersecurity and national security experts, six of them Americans, according to the White House.
The group of U.S. investors is led by software company Oracle, which will provide cloud services for data storage and obtain the license to oversee the recommendation algorithm.
The White House has said neither ByteDance nor Chinese officials will have access to users based in the United States.
Trump said he talked to Xi by telephone last week. He has credited TikTok with helping with the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
The popular social media has about 180 million users in the United States.
