A deal for the Chinese parent company of the popular video-sharing app TikTok to sell its US operations would result in the creation of a board dominated by Americans, the White House said on Saturday.
“There will be seven seats on the board that controls the app in the United States, and six of those seats will be Americans,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, adding that a deal could be signed “in the coming days.”
The US has forcefully sought to take TikTok’s US operations out of the hands of Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動) for national security reasons. Under then-US president Joe Biden, the US Congress passed a law to force ByteDance to sell its US operations or face a ban of the app.
Photo: Reuters
US policymakers, including US President Donald Trump in his first term, have warned that China could use TikTok to mine data from Americans or exert influence on what they see on social media. However, Trump turned to the platform, which is hugely popular with young Americans, to garner support during his presidential campaign last year.
Trump has repeatedly delayed implementation of the ban while a deal has been sought.
Investors reportedly being eyed to take over the app include Oracle Corp, the tech firm owned by Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people — and a major Trump supporter.
Leavitt seemed to confirm Oracle’s participation.
“The data and privacy will be led by one of America’s greatest tech companies, Oracle, and the algorithm will also be controlled by America as well,” she said. “So all of those details have already been agreed upon. Now we just need this deal to be signed.”
Asked about the deal later by reporters at the White House, Trump said: “We have great American patriots that are buying it. Very substantial people.”
He declined to say who the seventh board member would be, adding that it would be announced at a later date.
The TikTok deal was discussed in a call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Friday.
Trump said afterward that Xi had “approved” the deal during the phone call, but added that “we have to get it signed.”
China did not confirm any agreement.
The Wall Street Journal, quoting sources familiar with the talks, reported that the US government could receive a multibillion-dollar fee from investors as part of the deal.
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