Oracle, US Investors May Take Over TikTok Under Trump Administration Plan: Report

US President Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly developing a plan to secure TikTok’s future by tapping software company Oracle and outside investors to take charge of the app’s global operations, according to a National Public Radio (NPR) report on Saturday (25 January).

According to the report, the White House is negotiating a deal in which TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, would hold a minority stake, while Oracle would manage the app’s algorithm, data collection, and software updates.

Oracle currently supports TikTok’s web infrastructure.

TikTok, which boasts 170 million American users, was temporarily inaccessible earlier this month as a law mandating its sale by ByteDance for national security reasons, or be completely banned, took effect on 19 January.

After assuming office on 20 January, Trump signed an executive order to postpone the law’s enforcement by 75 days.

This action followed US officials’ warnings about potential risks of American data misuse under ByteDance.

According to NPR, the proposed deal would grant American investors majority ownership of TikTok.

However, the report noted that the terms are not final and remain under discussion.

“The goal is for Oracle to effectively monitor and provide oversight with what is going on with TikTok,” a person directly involved in the talks was quoted as saying by NPR.

“ByteDance wouldn’t completely go away, but it would minimise Chinese ownership,” the person added.

Other potential investors who are engaged in the talks include Microsoft, NPR reported.

The report stated that Oracle and White House officials met on Friday to discuss a potential agreement, with another meeting scheduled for next week.

Oracle reportedly expressed interest in acquiring a TikTok stake valued “in the tens of billions,” though the remainder of the agreement is still uncertain, NPR cited the source as saying.

Trump has expressed his preference for the United States to hold a “50 per cent ownership position in a joint venture” with TikTok.

Another source told NPR that the White House views addressing Congressional concerns as a major obstacle in finalising the deal.

The ban on TikTok, enacted under legislation signed by former President Joe Biden, has faced criticism from free speech advocates.

TikTok has argued that US officials misrepresented its links to China, emphasising that its content recommendation system and user data are stored on Oracle-operated US cloud servers.

The company also noted that decisions about content moderation impacting American users are made within the US.

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