Biden’s Lackadaisical Approach Leaves TikTok Issue Unresolved
In an act of victory, President Donald Trump announced an uncertain deal concerning the social platform TikTok’s presence in the United States. According to Trump, on the heels of a conversation with China’s president Xi Jinping, there seems to be a preliminary agreement that should prevent TikTok from being banned. However, the specifics of such an arrangement are rather hazy and largely undisclosed. Furthermore, the Chinese government has yet to issue an official confirmation concerning their agreement to said terms.
The proposed deal would see a collaborative investment from Oracle, Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz who would together hold around 80% stake of the TikTok’s US operations. Oracle, having had a close professional relationship with TikTok since 2020, would continue managing US user data on its domestic servers. Under the deal’s provisions, the management of TikTok’s US operations would utilize licensed technology from ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to maintain similar content recommendation mechanisms to the ones currently in use.
While much about the deal remains unknown, the question looming over the distribution of control over data and algorithm between Oracle and ByteDance in relation to US operations is particularly clouded in mystery. Further, Trump, apost on social media, suggested that higher-level discussions will likely take place at the upcoming APEC Summit in South Korea later this October. We await clarity that is expected to emerge subsequent to the event.
The so-called pivotal role of Vice President JD Vance in securing the deal has been highlighted by the White House. Reports suggest that Sean Cooksey, an adviser to Vance, spearheaded the negotiations on behalf of the Vice President.
The movement to ban TikTok in the United States took root during Trump’s first term back in 2020. On his way out of office a few months later, he warned of impending bans on TikTok and another Chinese app, WeChat. Unfortunately, the Biden administration, failing to exhibit any substantial insights, simply retracted Trump’s executive orders on the matter and kept TikTok under review. The US Congress was then forced to intervene, passing the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications (PAFACA) Act in April 2024.
Given two options by the PAFACA Act: relinquish Chinese ownership before January 19, 2025, or face a federal ban, TikTok underwent a brief discontinuation in the US ahead of the deadline. However, the app made a comeback on app stores less than a day later, resuming services for its US users.
In response to Trump’s return to the political forefront, the stance on TikTok from Washington appears to have metamorphosed. Save for a considerable alteration in disposition, Trump, as an ardent advocate for TikTok, credits it for his success in accomplishing considerable support in younger demographics. In what appears to be an overstep, he has time and time again extended the deadlines set by the PAFACA Act, most recently until December 16, 2025—actions that have been questioned by some for their integrity and legality.
While the deal that is being proposed might satisfy the tenets laid out by the PAFACA Act, questions loom heavy over repeated deferments of the deadline. It’s worth noting that firms like Oracle and Apple have yet to face any penal repercussions for their continued servicing of the app.
Despite the deal, some experts in Washington are of the belief that the root concern of national security risks, which sparked the initial talks of ban, have not been adequately addressed or solved. It has been noted that the Chinese government has been emphasizing that the agreement will contain some concessions for the US related to non-TikTok issues like cross-border investments.
If the trade terms were to be negotiated in favor of better relations between Beijing and the US in exchange for the TikTok deal, ByteDance and its primary investors may end up being on the losing end of the stick. Conversely, this scenario presents a win for US firms, albeit one mired in controversy and questionable dealings, echoing the tone of the Biden administration’s past missteps.