Tiktok users in the US may get reprieve from shutdown threats after Trump administration announced Social Video Platform in the area
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessen said at a news conference after the latest round of trade talks between the world’s two largest economies concluded in Madrid that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will speak on Friday to potentially finalize a deal in the region. He said the goal of the deal would be to shift ownership to America.
He did not disclose the terms of the deal, saying it was between two private parties, but added that “commercial terms have been agreed.”
Little is known about the actual deal in the works, including what companies are involved and whether the United States would have a stake in TikTok. Li Chenggang, China’s international trade spokesman, said TikTok-related issues will be addressed in a cooperative manner, reducing investment barriers and promoting related economic and trade cooperation, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency.
Oracle Corp. has been named as a potential buyer for the platform. Company representatives did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Monday.
In Madrid, US Trade Representative Jamie Greer said the team was “very focused on TikTok and making sure it’s a fair deal for China,” but also “fully respectful of US national security concerns.”
Wang Jingtao, deputy director of China’s Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, told reporters in Madrid that there was consensus on allowing “the use of intellectual property rights, such as (Tiktok’s) algorithm” – a key sticking point in the deal.
He said the parties also agreed to trust the partner with the security of US user data and content.
Although he has no clear legal basis for doing so, Trump has continued to extend TikTok’s deadline to avoid a US ban, giving his administration more time to clear a deal to bring the social media platform under American ownership. The next deadline is September 17th, and Trump has already indicated he will extend it if necessary.
It’s unclear how many more times Trump can extend the ban as the administration continues to try to negotiate a deal on TikTok, which is owned by China’s treason. While there is no clear legal basis for the extensions, there have been no legal challenges to the administration. Trump has gained more than 15 million followers on TikTok since joining last year , and he has credited the trending platform with helping him gain traction among young voters. He said in January that he has a “warm spot for TikTok.”
For now, TikTok continues to operate for its 170 million users in the U.S. Tech giants Apple, Google, and Oracle were persuaded to continue offering and supporting the app with promises that Trump’s Justice Department would not use the law to seek potentially steep fines against them.
Americans are even more divided on how to deal with TikTok than they were two years ago.
A recent Pew Research Center poll found that about one-third of Americans said they supported a TikTok ban, up from 50% to 20% in March 2023. About one-third said they opposed the ban, and a similar percentage said they were unsure.
Among those who said they supported banning the social media platform, about 8 in 10 cited concerns about the security of user data being at risk as a key factor in their decision, the report said.
During his first term as president, Trump led efforts to ban TikTok, saying it posed a threat to U.S. national security. But his tune changed when he returned to the White House for the second time, signing an executive order on his first day in office to shut down the app.
During Joe Biden’s Democratic presidency, Congress and the White House used national security concerns to approve a US ban on Tiktok unless its Chinese parent company sold a controlling stake.
U.S. officials were concerned about Buddance’s roots and ownership, citing laws in China that require Chinese companies to hand over data requested by the government. Other concerns grew over the proprietary algorithm that populates what users see on the app.
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This story corrects the title of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
