Trump signs order for U.S. TikTok ownership transfer

In Short:
– Trump signed an order for American investors to control TikTok’s U.S. operations, finalising previous agreements.
– ByteDance must reduce its ownership in TikTok to under 20% or stop U.S. operations to meet security requirements.

President Trump has signed an executive order that formalises an agreement for American investors to assume control of TikTok’s U.S. operations.

The action sets the groundwork for finalising the deal previously announced.The executive order confirms that the agreement meets security requirements outlined in legislation from last year, mandating TikTok parent ByteDance to reduce its ownership stake in the U.S. operation to below 20% or cease operations in the country.

The deal involves ByteDance duplicating its algorithm and leasing it to the new entity, which will train it using U.S. user data, thereby reducing Chinese influence under the oversight of cloud-computing firm Oracle.

However, some analysts remain concerned about potential Chinese influence over U.S. operations even with this arrangement.

Final Steps

The involved parties still need to confirm the group of new investors, resolve legal aspects, and secure regulatory approval.