The White House on Saturday outlined key details of a U.S.-China agreement on TikTok, confirming that six Americans will occupy six of the seven seats on the platform’s U.S. board and that the U.S. will control the app’s algorithm.
“This deal does put America first,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News. “TikTok will be majority-owned by Americans in the United States. There will be seven seats on the board that controls the app in the U.S., and six of those seats will be Americans.”
Leavitt added that U.S. control will extend to data and privacy management, with Oracle, the software and cloud computing company co-founded by Larry Ellison, overseeing these aspects. She confirmed that the administration will also maintain control of the algorithm that curates content for U.S. users.
The White House did not immediately disclose the identities of the six American board members or who would directly control the algorithm. TikTok representatives also declined to comment on the deal.
Trump highlights American control
On Friday, former President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that the board investors are “all very well-known people, very famous people actually, financially” and “controlled by very powerful and very substantial American people, all American, by the way, all American people.”
The framework for the agreement was announced last week by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during meetings with Chinese officials in Madrid. The Trump administration has consistently sought U.S. control of TikTok, which has more than 170 million American users, citing national security and data privacy concerns.
The platform was temporarily banned in the U.S. in January, following a bipartisan law signed by President Joe Biden that required TikTok to sell to a U.S. company. Trump had promised not to enforce the law if the app continued operating domestically and later used executive orders to extend the temporary reprieve.
National security concerns
U.S. officials have repeatedly raised concerns about TikTok’s parent company sharing user data with the Chinese government and the potential for algorithm manipulation affecting American users.
Leavitt said the administration is “100% confident that a deal is done” and is working with Chinese counterparts to finalize the agreement. Trump confirmed he had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the deal, noting that China was also interested in keeping TikTok operational in the U.S.
Trump credited TikTok with helping him secure young voter support in the 2024 election, acknowledging that while he had previously opposed the app, he later became a user and supporter. “It’s a great deal for all of the young people in the country that wanted it, and people generally. I was happy with it. Look, I wasn’t a fan of TikTok, and then I got to use it, and I became a fan, and it helped me win the election in a landslide,” he said.
