Trump issues order paving way for China’s sale of TikTok to US group headed by Ellison-Dell-Murdoch
Donald Trump quipped that he would like to make the TikTok algorithm “100% MAGA” as he signed an executive order on a deal that will transfer control of the Chinese social media app to a U.S. business group.
At a briefing in the Oval Office Thursday, the president announced that Chinese president Xi Jinping has approved a proposed deal that met American national security concerns and would be valued at around $14 billion.
Asked whether the platform would now recommend more MAGA-related content, Trump replied “I always like MAGA-related. If I could, I’d make it a hundred percent MAGA related.
“If I could make it one hundred percent MAGA, I would. But it’s not going to work out that way unfortunately. No, everyone’s going to be treated fairly.”
It comes after former president Joe Biden signed legislation last year calling for China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok’s assets to an American company by early this year or face a nationwide ban.
Trump has repeatedly signed orders that have allowed TikTok to keep operating in the U.S. as his administration attempted to reach an agreement for the sale of the social media company.
Under the terms of the deal, a new joint-venture company will oversee TikTok’s U.S. business, with ByteDance retaining less than a 20 percent stake. Tech giant Oracle, investment firm Silver Lake Partners, and the MGX investment fund will control roughly 45 percent.
No representatives from ByteDance were present in the Oval Office Thursday for the signing, and the company hasn’t acknowledged that a transaction is taking place, CNBC reports. The Chinese embassy in Washington also did not immediately respond to a request for comment fromThe Associated Press to confirm that China has signed off on the proposed framework deal.
Further details of the investors and specific businesses are set to follow, though Dell CEO Michael Dell and media mogul Rupert Murdoch were mentioned at Thursday’s briefing.
News of the new deal comes after a report from the Pew Research Center, published Thursday, found that around 43 percent of U.S. adults under the age of 30 say they regularly get news from TikTok, higher than any other social media app including YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
More follows …
