The Chinese company ByteDance, which owns TikTok, has signed a deal to create a new joint venture under American control. This move aims to prevent the platform from being banned in the US.
The investors include Larry Ellison’s Oracle, investment firm Silver Lake, and the MGX fund from the United Arab Emirates. US lawmakers believe this agreement stops Chinese authorities from accessing personal data of US users or influencing the platform’s content. TikTok has 170 million users in the United States. They admitted that some Chinese employees could access American data but did not share it with the Chinese government.
The new venture is called “TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC”. It will work as an independent entity responsible for data protection, algorithm security, content control, and following regulations. Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX will each own 15% (totaling 45%). Existing American investors of ByteDance will hold 30.1%, and ByteDance will keep the remaining 19.9%.
This agreement comes after talks between Washington and Beijing and a decision to extend a law from Biden’s administration that planned to ban TikTok in January 2025.
