TikTok and its parent company ByteDance have formed a joint venture with 3 major American investors so the app can remain available across the United States.
On Thursday, Jan. 22, the investors Oracle, Silver Lake, Emirati MGX (a company focused on AI advancement), among other undisclosed investors, are expected to finalize the deal, according to the Associated Press.
CNN reported the deal will need approval from the Chinese government before closing, which it is expected to give if President Trump allows Chinese investors fair grounds in the U.S. and refrains from imposing unilateral trade restrictions.
The turnover of TikTok to U.S. interests was propelled by concerns from American officials that ByteDance, a Chinese company, violated an act prohibiting applications run by foreign adversaries to own algorithms or share data, according to former Kentucky Kernel coverage.
Foreign adversaries are defined as governments that pose significant threats to the U.S., according to Cornell Law School.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said in an internal memo that the deal will help the platform stay focused on serving its global community.
“With these agreements in place, our focus must stay where it’s always been—firmly on delivering for our users, creators, businesses and the global TikTok community,” said Zi Chew.
The concern of algorithms shaped by Chinese interests was the overarching security threat, considering the algorithm had to remain under Chinese control unless platform ties were cut.
In 2024, former President Joe Biden signed a law that would ban or cut ties with TikTok if a new owner for ByteDance was not found by January 2025.
The app did not find a new owner by this window and was briefly banned in the U.S. until President Donald Trump signed an executive order to maintain the platform while still aiming to find new owners, according to the Associated Press.
Three more executive orders followed in 2025 to extend the deadline for TikTok to remain in the U.S., one in coming April, where potential spin-off deals fell apart once Trump announced tariffs against China, another in June and a final in September 2025.
The final agreement on TikTok’s joint venture will include a majority American, seven member board of directors to “protect Americans’ data and U.S. national security,” according to the Associated Press.
Under the agreement, TikTok will be controlled in a joint venture, 50% of which will be owned by Oracle, Silver Lake and Emirati MGX. Roughly 30% held by ByteDance affiliates and unknown investors and 19.9% to ByteDance.
According to the Associated Press, the White House and TikTok declined to comment on who the other investors are.
For freshman neuroscience major Roshana Thapa, the American ownership of TikTok, especially under companies like Oracle that work with Lockheed Martin and Palantir, is morally concerning.
“Lockheed Martin is a major company that aids in wars,” Thapa said. “They build some machinery for wars, and I’m just not a big fan of that.”
Regarding the shift from Chinese to American ownership, Thapa said all countries are similar.
“Who’s to say the U.S. doesn’t manipulate algorithms?” Thapa said. “We don’t really know what our government is doing, I mean, we know what they’re currently doing with ICE, but we don’t know truly what’s going on.”
With TikTok being a social media platform used by younger generations, Thapa said it is a concern that American companies could manipulate or adjust algorithms, not just China.
Similarly, Ramon Williams, a sophomore electrical engineering major at UK, said his ideals were never influenced by the TikTok bans or sales.
“I feel that if what the government, (if the) U.S., or China got access to our information, it’s no different if the U.S. got access,” Williams said. “I felt like it (concerns prompting TikTok to be sold) was blown out of proportion.”
Jack Colafella, a junior majoring in political science, said he feels positively about the deal because of concerns surrounding TikTok.
“I feel like a lot of people are just super well-versed on TikTok here, people are always talking about it. There’s always stuff that’s going viral on there all the time,” Colafella said. “You know, the power of TikTok is totally a real thing.”
