President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that approves the sale of TikTok’s United States operations to an American investor group. This action is intended to keep the social media app running in the country. Vice President JD Vance stated that the deal values the U.S. operations of TikTok at approximately fourteen billion dollars.
The requirement for TikTok to sell its American business or face a ban originated from a national security law signed by former President Joe Biden. President Trump’s new executive order prevents the Attorney General and the Department of Justice from enforcing that law for a period of one hundred and twenty days. This grace period allows the presented divestiture plan to be carried out.
TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has not made a public statement confirming the deal or the executive order. However, on September 19, the company issued a statement saying it would work within the framework of applicable laws to ensure TikTok remains available to its American users.
President Trump commented that he discussed the matter with China’s President Xi Jinping. He reported that they had a good conversation, during which he informed President Xi of the plan and received his approval to proceed.
The terms of the executive order specify that TikTok’s U.S. operations will establish a new board of directors. The app’s key components, including its recommendation algorithm, source code, and content moderation system, will be transferred to the control of the new American owners. Oracle is named as a key partner that will oversee the app’s security operations and provide computing services for the U.S. version of TikTok. President Trump emphasized that the app will be entirely American-owned and operated.
While President Trump confirmed Oracle’s involvement, he did not disclose the complete list of new investors. Reports indicate that Oracle, along with Silver Lake and the Abu Dhabi-based MGX, will collectively hold a forty-five percent stake in the new TikTok U.S. company.
Vice President Vance expressed confidence that the deal allows Americans to continue using TikTok with greater security, ensuring user data is protected and the platform will not be used for propaganda.
When questioned about potential bias in the algorithm following the ownership change, President Trump stated that every group, philosophy, and policy would be treated fairly on the platform.
This executive order follows another signed by Trump last week, which extended the deadline for ByteDance to divest TikTok. This was the fourth time the deadline had been extended. The push to ban TikTok began under President Trump in 2020 and later gained bipartisan support during the Biden administration.