The Trump administration is taking a victory lap over its effort to keep TikTok operating in the U.S., calling it a fulfillment of a 2024 campaign promise and hoping young Americans remember the favor.
President Trump and his team facilitated a deal that gives majority control of the popular app to U.S. investors while ensuring China’s ByteDance owns less than 20%.
Mr. Trump said “great patriots” will take ownership as part of a joint venture that includes Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment firm MGX.
He said the deal will guarantee that TikTok remains “an important voice” in America.
“Along with other factors, it was responsible for my doing so well with the Youth Vote in the 2024 Presidential Election,” Mr. Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social. “I only hope that long into the future I will be remembered by those who use and love TikTok.”
President Biden signed a law passed by Congress in 2024 that would have banned TikTok in the U.S. if ByteDance did not find a new owner for the app.
Lawmakers were concerned that Beijing had too much influence over user data and algorithms that dictated what young people saw on the app.
Those concerns clashed with the desire of young people and businesses who said the app — known for short clips of dances and clever skits — was a key source of social engagement.
Mr. Trump, who rose to political prominence with the help of social media platforms such as Twitter, tapped into TikTok’s sway among young people and vowed to save it.
Mr. Trump signed orders delaying a TikTok shutdown that had been scheduled for January 2025.
He tasked Vice President J.D. Vance with securing a U.S. ownership deal. Despite hiccups around Washington-Beijing trade tensions, the administration secured an agreement after trade talks in Madrid, Spain, in September.
Mr. Trump thanked Mr. Vance and Chinese President Xi Jinping for finding a way forward.
He said Mr. Xi “could have gone the other way, but didn’t, and is appreciated for his decision.”
In a company statement, TikTok said 200 million Americans and 7.5 million businesses will continue to enjoy the app.
“The majority American-owned Joint Venture will operate under defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurances for U.S. users,” the company said.
