China's ByteDance Will Get 1 Of 7 Council Seats For TikTok Operations In The US

US Democratic Congressman Frank Pallone (photo: x @FrankPalone)

JAKARTA - The agreement between the US and China regarding TikTok operations in the United States includes ByteDance, a Chinese company, which will select one of seven council members for a new entity, while the other six seats will be held by Americans, a senior White House official said on Saturday, September 20.

President Donald Trump is working to prevent this short video app with 170 million US users from being banned after Congress passed a law in 2024 ordering the closure of TikTok in January 2025 if its US assets are not sold by its owner, ByteDance.

Trump has postponed enforcement of the law until mid-December to separate TikTok assets in the US from global platforms, engage American investors, and ensure new ownership meets the full divestment requirements in accordance with 2024 laws.

Advances towards this week's deal mark a rare breakthrough in months-long talks between the world's two largest economies seeking to defuse a trade war that has rocked the global market.

Trump said on Friday September 19 that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping had made progress on TikTok's deal by phone call and would meet face-to-face in six weeks. However, Beijing's statement has not explained how far this progress is.

Detailed Agreement

According to senior White House officials, the deal is in line with Reuters reports and other media recently. Trump will extend the postponement of enforcement of the 2024 law for another 120 days, meaning the next deadline for finalizing the deal is April.

TikTok, China's Ministry of Trade, and China's Cyber Administration did not respond to requests for comment.

However, members of Congress are likely to ask for an explanation of how this deal will go. "The details will be very important," said Congressman Frank Pallone, a Democrat. "We must not allow China to continue accessing large amounts of American personal data, and we must not allow Trump to hand over TikTok to his tech friends to make it MAGA's funnel. Point."

It is not yet clear whether the agreement in its current form will meet the requirements as a full divestment as required by Congress under the 2024 law.

Trump claims TikTok helped his win in last year's birthday election and has 15 million followers on his personal account. The White House also launched its official TikTok account last month.

Data and Algorithm Management

The deal requires all American user data to be stored in US cloud computing infrastructure operated by American software company Oracle.

The official also said that the TikTok algorithm "will be secured, retrained, and operated in the United States beyond ByteDance's control."

"The recommendation algorithm for TikTok content will be retrained from the start reviewed and analyzed under US scrutiny with US data that will not be shared outside the United States," the official said.

This is an important point because US officials have warned in recent years that the algorithm could be used by China to manipulate content Americans see on social media. Reuters and other media reported this week that the algorithm could be licensed by ByteDance.

US users can still use TikTok to interact with content from around the world. TikTok's assets in the US will be majority owned by American investors and operated by the board of directors with national security credentials and cybersecurity.

Currently, ByteDance shareholders include Susquehanna International Group, General Atlantic, and KKR. ByteDance will hold less than 20% of the shares in the joint venture that controls TikTok operations in the US, the official said.