President Donald Trump has returned to TikTok with a direct message for his young followers: he saved the popular video app, and now they “owe him big.”
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!In a video posted Monday morning, the President addressed his 15 million followers from the Oval Office’s Resolute Desk, claiming credit for the deal that allows the platform to continue operating in the US.
The post is Trump’s first since he signed an executive order on September 25 formalizing the new structure for TikTok’s US operations.
Details of the TikTok Deal
The executive order confirmed the app will now operate under new majority American ownership. The key provisions of the agreement are:
- Ownership: US investors will hold approximately 80% of the company. ByteDance, the Chinese parent company, will retain a stake of 20% or less.
- Governance: Governance will shift decidedly toward US control, with American investors securing most board seats. ByteDance will only have one seat and be excluded from national security committees.
- Operations: US tech company Oracle will be responsible for overseeing the platform’s data security and algorithm operations.
This deal finalized months of negotiations and extensions after legislation signed by former President Joe Biden required ByteDance to sell its US operations or face a ban.
The Political Stage
With 170 million US users, TikTok has proven to be a crucial political platform, particularly for energizing younger voters.
Joining the return is Vice President JD Vance, who also announced the relaunch of his TikTok page. Vance joked that he “got a little lazy” but promised to mix political updates with what he called “a few sombrero memes.”
