What Users Should Know About the TikTok Deal

TikTok’s future in the U.S. is on more solid ground. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping advanced a plan that is understood to hand control of the app’s American business to U.S. investors while shrinking Chinese parent company ByteDance’s ownership.  The deal comes after months of fraught trade talks and could shape not only how 170 million Americans use the app, but also how Trump balances national security concerns and relations with Beijing. “We made progress on many very important issues including Trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the War between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal,” Trump shared on Truth Social, without providing further details. “The call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone.” The President did however confirm that he and Xi agreed to meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea in October, with reciprocal trips to each other’s countries later this year. President Xi similarly called the call positive and constructive, according to Xinhua, a state-run media company. Xi added that China “respects the wishes of the company” while insisting that any deal comply with Chinese law and safeguard its authority over TikTok’s core technology. He also urged the U.S. to provide a “fair, open, and non-discriminatory business environment” for Chinese companies. A “framework” agreement to put the popular social media app under the control of American investors had already been discussed between the world leaders earlier this week. The app became a negotiation tool during the months-long battle over tariff rates between China and the U.S., which resulted in an agreement to enact a 90-day pause on tariffs that was later extended in July.   Here’s what to know.  Who owns TikTok now?  Under the reported terms of the deal, TikTok’s U.S. operations would be run by an investor consortium including companies such as Oracle, Andreessen Horowitz, and Silver Lake, according to The Wall Street Journal. The consortium would cumulatively own an 80% stake of the app, while Chinese investors would still retain control of the remaining 20%, in order to comply with U.S. law. Several investors who donated to Trump’s 2024 campaign are expected to benefit from the deal. They include billionaire Jeff Yass, co-founder of Susquehanna International, one of the existing ByteDance backers that would retain a significant stake, and William Ford, CEO of General Atlantic and a member of ByteDance’s board. Will TikTok be the same?  It remains unclear whether the app’s algorithm—the key to its success, but also a central point in national security concerns —would continue under ByteDance’s control. The White House did not immediately respond to TIME’s request for comment on Friday, but a spokesperson previously stated that “any details of the TikTok framework are pure speculation unless they are announced by this Administration.”  Wang Jingtao, deputy director of the Cyberspace Administration of China, said at a press conference earlier this week that the algorithm is expected to remain the same due to licensing agreements. The Wall Street Journal, however, reported that TikTok engineers would work on a new app that U.S. users would have to move to, which would center upon an algorithm licensed from ByteDance but “re-created” by American engineers. A Bytedance partner will also take over control over U.S. user data and content security, Wang added.  Why was TikTok being banned in the U.S. in the first place?  Interest in TikTok, and its potential security concerns, emerged following Chinese-owned ByteDance’s acquisition of Musical.ly, a similar social media app which later folded into TikTok.  The app exploded in popularity: More than 170 million Americans use the app. Some 7.5 million U.S. businesses, which employ around 28 million people, rely on the platform, according to 2024 data from TikTok.  But many politicians, including Trump during his first term, previously called for the app’s ban due to concerns about potential data collection of U.S. citizens. The Justice Department (DOJ) previously stated that the Chinese company posed a “national-security threat of immense depth and scale.” More specifically, China could potentially harass, recruit, and spy on the United States through its data collection, former DOJ Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said before the Supreme Court last year.  A 2024 bipartisan bill banned TikTok from the U.S. unless 80% of its assets were given to U.S. operators. Yet national sentiment regarding TikTok has somewhat shifted. The Trump Administration has fought to keep the app alive in the U.S., due to its perceived role in helping Trump win the presidency, with the President extending the deadline on ByteDance to divest the app to a U.S. owner at least four times .  “TikTok has tremendous value,” Trump said during his state visit to the U.K. on Thursday.  “The United States has that value in its hand because we’re the ones that have to approve it.”