 "(FILES) A photo taken on April 10, 2025 shows the Chinese social networking service TikTok's logo on a smartphone screen (L) and US' and China flags combo illustration on a laptop screen in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany. Image- AFP")
As the TikTok deal between the US and China gains momentum, Oracle has offered to provide security and monitor the video-sharing app’s algorithm, making it more American-friendly to meet President Donald Trump’s needs.
A White House official said that an agreement to sell the popular Chinese-owned app to a consortium of American investors is taking shape, days after a deadline to ban the app was extended for a few months.
Often described as TikTok’s “secret sauce,” the fate of the video-sharing app’s algorithm was one of the main question marks in persuading China to allow the platform’s transfer to US ownership.
What’s the algorithm deal?
The arrangement, detailed by a US official on Monday, aims to give American buyers control over TikTok’s recommendation algorithm within the US after its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divests. Under the plan, the US-based TikTok owners would lease a version of the algorithm from ByteDance, which would then be retrained “from the ground up” under Oracle’s supervision, the official said.
Oracle will store and manage data from US users in a secure cloud server and will ensure that it is out of reach of foreign adversaries, including Beijing. The official said that ByteDance would not have any access to data from US subscribers, nor would it have any control over the algorithm in the US.
Oracle will collaborate with the US government on a broad range of areas, including algorithm retraining, app development, and source code review.
Who are the buyers?
While the full list of buyers is not finalised yet, Trump has said that media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan, the CEO of Fox Corporation, could be part of the TikTok deal.
Apart from this, Larry Ellison, Oracle’s cofounder, has consistently been a prominent figure among potential buyers. Reports suggest he may be leading a consortium of investors that could include asset manager Blackstone, private equity firm Silver Lake, Walmart, and billionaire Frank McCourt.
With inputs from agencies