President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday spelling out a deal that could transfer the majority ownership of Chinese-founded app TikTok to Americans. The app has an estimated 170 million US users.
“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said.
A representative for the White House directed CNET to the president’s press conference. A representative for TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
An executive order titled Saving TikTok While Protecting National Security was posted on the White House website Thursday afternoon.
Read more: New TikTok Algorithm or Brand-New App in the US?
The president said he agreed with Chinese President Xi Jinping that TikTok would be separated from ByteDance to continue operating in the US. US companies will own about 80% of the US version of the app. Six Americans will sit on TikTok’s seven-member board of directors, The Guardian reported.
Trump said during the signing that US tech company Oracle and its co-founder Larry Ellison will play a major role in the new TikTok. Oracle reportedly would handle data storage and cloud services and act as TikTok’s security provider.
A representative for Oracle didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
TikTok was launched internationally in 2017 and has been controversial ever since due to its Chinese ownership. The app went dark in the US for part of the day on Jan. 18, but returned the next day.
Many details still unclear
As we reported earlier this week, not all the details of the TikTok deal have been revealed.
It’s not yet known if TikTok users will have to migrate to a new app or if an app update will make the changeover more seamless for users.
A major part of the debate over TikTok’s ownership is what will happen to the site’s powerful algorithm, which utilizes user data to recommend other TikTok videos.
NBC News reports that the president was asked if the US algorithm would push Trump-positive content, called MAGA for his campaign slogan Make America Great Again.
“I always like MAGA-related,” he said. “If I could make it 100% MAGA, I would, but it’s not going to work out that way. Unfortunately, no, everyone’s going to be treated fairly. Every group, every philosophy, every policy will be treated very fairly.”
According to the New York Times, Chinese law says that the algorithm must remain under Chinese control, but US law requires TikTok to be cut off from cooperating with China on the algorithim.
