Trump TikTok deal: Who might own the app and how would it work?

President Donald Trump says a deal to find a new owner for social media app TikTok in the United States is done.

US politicians passed a law in 2024 banning the app in the country unless it was sold by its Chinese parent company ByteDance.

Trump vowed to save TikTok, and had previously suggested a number of potential buyers before the latest announcement, which has yet to be confirmed by ByteDance or the Chinese authorities.

For years US officials and lawmakers have argued that ByteDance’s links to the Chinese government threaten national security.

Many feared Beijing could force ByteDance to hand over data about its US users – thought to number 170 million.

TikTok and ByteDance reject that criticism, but similar concerns have prompted bans and restrictions in other countries around the world.

In April 2024, US Congress passed a bill – signed into law by former President Joe Biden – giving ByteDance nine months to find a US-approved buyer or see TikTok shut down.

TikTok called the law “unconstitutional” and claimed that censoring its US users would have a “staggering” impact on free speech. It launched several unsuccessful legal challenges.

ByteDance insisted it had no plans to sell.

After Trump took office in January 2025, he extended that initial deadline to allow the search for the app’s new owners to continue. The president has pushed the deadline back several more times to allow a deal to be done.

Trump’s TikTok deal will see US investors take over the app’s operations in the country.

They will control the algorithm which powers the US version of TikTok, and Americans will hold six of the seven seats on the board of directors which will oversee it.

The algorithm is the technology which determines what users see in their feed, and is seen as the most valuable – and controversial – part of the app.

Under the deal, the American TikTok will use a new algorithm which will be based on the existing version, but retrained on US user data, according to White House officials.

This will be overseen by the US tech giant Oracle. The firm’s co-founder Larry Ellison is a close ally of US President Donald Trump.

Oracle already stores TikTok’s American user data on its US-based servers as part of an existing agreement, and this will continue.

White House officials say this arrangement meets the requirements for the sale of TikTok that were set out in the 2024 law and, therefore, ensures the social media app can continue operating in the US.

The White House has also identified private equity firm Silver Lake as another investor. It has a stake in the City Football Group, which owns Manchester City football club.

It is understood that officials have said the new joint venture controlling the app is seeking “patriotic” investors.

A huge range of public figures ranging from OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely to star YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson – AKA MrBeast – were previously touted as potential partners.

ByteDance and TikTok have not commented publicly on the deal.

But in a statement earlier in September, ByteDance thanked Xi and Trump “for their efforts to preserve TikTok in the United States”.

President Trump said that the deal was approved by his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in a call on 19 September.

But Beijing has been much more guarded than Washington.

“The Chinese government respects the wishes of the enterprise, and welcomes it to carry out commercial negotiations in accordance with market rules to reach a solution compliant with China’s laws and regulations, and strikes a balance of interests,” it said after Trump’s announcement.

Analysts believe it is extremely unlikely that TikTok’s parent company would sell its prize app without Beijing’s blessing.

The Chinese government is expected to issue an export license for the TikTok algorithm in due course.

Trump also said he would discuss the deal with Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea at the end of October.

According to TikTok, its US users spent 51 minutes per day on average on the app in 2024.

When the bill was announced, many US creators who earn their living on the app told the BBC its loss would be devastating.

In March 2024, TikTok urged its users to contact their political representatives to complain. Some lawmakers said the lobbying campaign had actually reinforced their concerns about the app.

Experts predicted that video-sharing rivals such as Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and another Chinese app, RedNote, would benefit if TikTok was banned.

But even if its future in the US has been secured, there is no guarantee that users will decide to stick with the new version of the app.

“The jury’s out on whether this new, US-only, app will be a true replicate of the old one, with just as powerful of an algorithm and experience,” said Kelsey Chickering, from market research company Forrester.

Additional reporting by Lily Jamali