TikTok's algorithm to be licensed to US joint venture led by Oracle and
Silver Lake
[September 23, 2025] By
MICHAEL LIEDTKE and CHRIS MEGERIAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tech giant Oracle will spearhead U.S. oversight of the
algorithm and security underlying TikTok's video popular platform under
the terms of a deal laid out Monday by President Donald Trump's
administration.
All the final details still need to be nailed down among several joint
venture partners that will include Oracle, investment firm Silver Lake
Partners and possibly two billionaires — media mogul Rupert Murdoch and
personal computer pioneer Michael Dell. The U.S. administration would
not have a stake in the joint venture nor be part of its board,
according to a senior White House official.
President Trump is expected to issue an executive order later this week
that declares that the terms of the deal meet the security concerns laid
out by the law, the senior White House official said. China still needs
to sign off on the framework proposal, and any final deal would still
require regulatory approval.
The proposal is aimed at resolving a long-running effort to wrest
TikTok's U.S. operations from its Beijing-based parent company,
ByteDance, because of national security concerns. TikTok has become a
high-profile topic during conversations between Trump and China
President Xi Jinping as they continue to spar in a trade war that's
roiled the global economy for much of the year.
For now, the two sides are progressing on a framework deal that calls
for a consortium of investors, including Oracle and Silver Lake, to take
over the U.S. operations of TikTok in a process that might not be
completed until early next year under a timeline laid out Monday by the
Trump administration. That could mean TikTok's divestment might not be
completed until a year after it was supposed to be banned under a law
that had bipartisan support but was repeatedly bypassed by Trump.
Under the current terms of the proposal, the new U.S. joint venture
would receive a licensed copy of the recommendation algorithm that keeps
TikTok users endlessly scrolling through clips on their smartphones.
Oracle would review, monitor and secure U.S. data flowing through the
service.
American officials have previously warned that ByteDance's algorithm is
vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to
shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect.
“It wouldn’t be in compliance if the algorithm is Chinese. There can’t
be any shared algorithm with ByteDance,” said a spokesperson for the
House Select Committee on China.
The algorithm has been a central issue in the security debate over
TikTok. China previously maintained the algorithm must remain under
Chinese control by law. But a U.S. regulation passed with bipartisan
support said any divestment of TikTok must mean the platform cuts ties —
specifically the algorithm — with ByteDance.
Although the details remain sketchy, a Trump administration official
said that the licensed copy will be “retrained” with U.S. data to make
sure the system is “behaving appropriately."
That makes it unclear if the U.S. version of TikTok will look different
from what users are seeing in the rest of the world. Any noticeable
changes made to a social media platform's service raises the risk of
alienating its audience, said Jasmine Enberg, an analyst for the
research firm eMarketer.
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The TikTok logo is pictured in Tokyo, Sept. 28, 2020. (AP
Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)
 “Social media is just as much about
the culture as it is the technology, and how users will take to new
ownership and potentially a new version of the app is still an open
question,” Enberg said.
In a Monday briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt
said the change in control won't change the experience. “TikTok
users in the U.S will be able to see videos posted by users in other
countries and vice versa," Leavitt said.
In a prime example of how a change of control can reshape a
once-popular social media platform, billionaire Elon Musk triggered
an almost immediate backlash after he completed his $44 billion
takeover of Twitter nearly three years ago.
But Musk made extremely visible changes, including eventually
dropping the Twitter brand and changing its name to X. The changes
that gradually occur while different data is fed into the U.S. copy
of TikTok's algorithm could be subtle and unnoticeable to most of
its audience.
What's clear, for now, is that both Oracle and Silver Lake will be
major players in TikTok's future in the U.S. if the deal is
finalized by the Trump administration.
Founded nearly 50 years ago, Oracle's success was built on database
software that helps manage a wide variety of information crucial to
business, and has since expanded into hardware, including data
centers that help power artificial intelligence.
Although he no longer runs Oracle as its CEO, company co-founder
Larry Ellison remains a top executive while also overseeing an
estimated personal fortune of $390 billion. Ellison, 81, now could
be in line to become a behind-the-scenes power player in the media,
having already helped finance Skydance's recently completed $8
billion merger with Paramount, a deal engineered by his son, David.
Silver Lake has long focused on tech deals, including past buyouts
of Dell Computer and the now-defunct video calling service Skype.
Michael Dell, who founded Dell Computer, may now be one of investors
in the U.S. joint venture overseeing TikTok, according to what Trump
told Fox News in a recent interview. Trump also mentioned Murdoch,
whose company owns Fox News, as a potential investor in the joint
venture.
Other media outlets have reported that another billionaire, venture
capitalist Marc Andreessen, is vying to become involved in the
investor group. Andreessen was also involved in Silver Lake's 2009
buyout of Skype.
ByteDance is expected to have a 20%, or smaller, stake in the U.S.
joint venture, whose board will be controlled by the U.S. investors.
ByteDance will be represented by one person on the board, but that
individual will be excluded from TikTok’s security committee.
—-
Liedtke reported from San Ramon, California.
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