After years of political wrangling, lawsuits, looming bans and uncertainty for millions of people, TikTok’s long-running dramatic saga might finally conclude this week. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to “consummate” a long-negotiated agreement on Thursday, allowing TikTok to continue operating in the US under new ownership terms.
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“The details are ironed out,” Bessent said, stating that his purpose in the negotiations was “to get the Chinese to agree to approve the transaction” and that it was “successfully accomplished.”
It’s possible, of course, that Thursday could come and go without a TikTok deal finalization. Dates and deadlines have been flexible along the way. Trump set numerous deadlines for changes involving TikTok and has bumped those dates several times. TikTok went briefly offline in January hours ahead of a planned ban, but returned the next day.
Read also: TikTok Introduces Parental Controls, Fact-Checking and AI Moderation Features
TikTok’s controversial history in the US
TikTok’s political rollercoaster began in 2020, when Washington first raised alarms about the app’s Chinese ownership and potential data vulnerabilities. Congress passed a 2024 law forcing ByteDance, TikTok’s Beijing-based parent, to divest its US operations or face a total ban. Since then, the video-sharing site has faced multiple executive orders, court challenges and failed acquisition attempts.
The time to make a deal has been running out. The US Supreme Court upheld the divestment order earlier this year, rejecting arguments that a ban would violate free speech. That ruling pushed both sides back to the negotiating table, but there have been numerous delays and shifts to the TikTok deal deadline over the last few months.
Trump signed an executive order on Sept. 25, allowing the new ownership to be US-based and made up of a majority of American investors and stakeholders.
The all-important algorithm
The White House confirmed in September that TikTok’s algorithm will be operated in the United States and overseen by American tech company Oracle. Private equity firm Silver Lake and Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, will also be among the investors. In September, Trump said that News Corp founder Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch will also be part of the ownership group, but CNN later reported that the Murdochs’ media company, Fox Corp, would be the investor, not the two Murdochs individually.
TikTok’s algorithm is a major part of the deal. The algorithm is what recommends content to you while you’re scrolling on TikTok, and it is controversial because of US concerns that ByteDance, TikTok’s original Chinese owner, could be forced by the Chinese government to use those recommendations in pro-Chinese, anti-US ways.
Under the new TikTok deal, the algorithm will be retrained on US user data.
What this means for TikTok users
For TikTok users, the alleged deal could preserve access to an app that has become a cultural mainstay in the US, eliminating the looming threat of a shutdown or spinoff app.
As part of the new arrangement, TikTok’s US user data will remain stored domestically and managed by a dedicated oversight board, which may appease many Americans with concerns about data privacy.
Trump and Xi will meet again in Korea on Thursday, which means a TikTok deal could be announced by the end of this week. However, implementing the deal and changing ownership will likely take months.
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison is a personal friend of Trump, and some users fear his role with TikTok could mean the algorithm could push right-wing political content to users. A recent NPR story reported that analysts say that this could happen, but they will also need to refrain from alienating the existing audience.
