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Following multiple executive orders to delay the deadline on a sale of TikTok, thus preventing a ban on the app in the United States, President Donald Trump has signalled a victory and, it seems, a deal is nearing finality. Questions over national security, data privacy, and any potential conflicts of interest remain, but here is what we know to date.

Despite analysts estimating TikTok’s US operations to be worth closer to US$50 billion, the deal struck has valued the entity at US$14 billion. The overall value of ByteDance has been estimated at US$330 billion. The deal would hand control of approximately 45 per cent of the entity to Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX, according to CNBC, while Beijng-based ByteDance would retain 19.9 per cent, with the remaining 35 per cent controlled by ByteDance investors and new holders.

This would seemingly meet the requirement of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, requiring that TikTok be majority-owned and controlled by US-based companies. The US-based venture will base its algorithm on one licensed from ByteDance, which had been a point of contention between Beijing and Washington owing to the secretiveness around how algorithms are determined.

As reported by tech media outlet, The Verge, the deal hasn’t been agreed to by China, and doubts remain that this agreement meets the legal requirements for divestiture, since an agreement to license the TikTok algorithm may be defined as an ongoing operational relationship between the US entity and ByteDance, which the Act bars.

The US-based The Brookings Institution raised two significant concerns. Firstly, consumer privacy protections are not guaranteed in the absence of national privacy law, and the new owners have established allegiance with President Trump.

Social media has already been used at US airports to screen potential entrants to the US, with prominent cases of Australian and international travellers being detained and deported for perceived criticism of Trump.

The Brookings Institution article suggested opposition politicians who campaign or fundraise using TikTok may face restrictions; small businesses “may find their pages surveilled to ensure compliance with government regulations like tariffs”; and civil society organisations may face surveillance to prevent or punish criticism of the Trump administration.

The potential new (ultra rich) owners of TikTok US

The majority owner, co-founder, executive chairman and chief technology officer of Oracle is Larry Ellison, who holds over 40 per cent of the company’s shares. In July, he overtook both Mark Zuckerberg (Meta) and Elon Musk to become the wealthiest person in the world. Though the title was regained by Musk within a day, Ellison’s cloud-computing company has funded his lifestyle of yachts, private planes, glamorous properties, and ownership of a Hawaiian island.

As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, Ellison has been a Trump supporter and Republican donor for years, and a close ally of Donald Trump.

On 10 October, NPR stated that Ellison’s “family’s empire could soon own CBS, Paramount, CNN and TikTok”.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio claimed in November 2023 that TikTok should be banned over “anti-Israel” bias, and for manipulating young Americans into sympathy towards Palestinians. Ellison has been widely acknowledged as pro-Israel in media, and The Guardian reported that he donated millions to the Israeli military through the non-profit Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.

California-based Silver Lake Technology Management is a global private equity firm specialising in technology. Founded in 1999, Straight Arrow News reported on 1 October that Silver Lake has bought out more than $110 billion in combined assets across North America, Europe and Asia. “Their portfolio of companies generates approximately $260 billion in annual revenue and employs around 448,000 people.”

The government of Abu Dhabi established MGX Fund Management Limited in 2024 to invest in AI technology. In September last year, MGX, BlackRock and Microsoft established a joint fund for data centres, the Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership. This followed a January 2025 partnership between MGX, Oracle, SoftBank, and OpenAI on the Stargate Project, and a March 2025 investment worth US$2 billion in Binance. That US$2 billion investment was paid for in Trump’s family cryptocurrency, USD1. MGX board chairman Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan is also the deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates’ National Security Adviser, and chairs five other companies.

The background

On 13 March 2024 under the previous administration, the House of Representatives passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act by a significant majority (352 in favour, 65 opposed). President Biden had committed to sign the bill, which required ByteDance to sell TikTok within six months or face a ban from app stores and web-hosting services in the US. Biden’s federal legislation gave ByteDance until 19 Jan 2025, to divest TikTok or the platform would become illegal for distribution in the United States.

The primary argument for a sale of TikTok? National security. According to Chinese national security laws, the Chinese government can demand access to data owned by private organisations via the Cybersecurity Law (CSL) and the Data Security Law (DSL) for national security and criminal investigations. The Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL) also provides the government with extensive access, along with rights to collect and control information.

On 25 September this year, the White House issued a statement claiming a deal had been settled upon that addressed the necessary measures laid out by The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (the “Act”) (Public Law 118-50, Div. H), which has faced several amendments to its deadline provisions.

The statement read: “The agreement described in subsection (a) of this section also resolves any national security concern under section 721 of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4565) (section 721) arising from the acquisition of Musical.ly by ByteDance Ltd. as modified by the divestiture outlined in the Framework Agreement.”

Section 2(a) of the Act prohibits entities from distributing, maintaining, or updating certain defined foreign adversary controlled applications within the territory of the United States by providing (1) services for such distribution, maintenance, or updates by means of an online mobile application store or other marketplace; or (2) internet hosting services to enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating of such applications. Section 2(g) of the Act defines “foreign adversary controlled application” to include websites, desktop applications, mobile applications, and augmented or immersive technology applications operated directly or indirectly by ByteDance Ltd., TikTok, or certain subsidiaries.

Under section 2(a), the Act’s prohibitions with respect to these entities became effective on 19 January 2025.

However, on 20 January, Trump issued Executive Order 14166 (Application of Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act to TikTok), delaying the Act’s enforcement until 5 April 2025.  He issued another executive order on 4 April (further delaying the Act’s enforcement until 19 June, and on that date, again issued an order delaying until 17 September. Ultimately, on 16 September the Act’s enforcement was delayed until 16 December.

According to a Reuters report on 30 October, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business Network that China had finalised the Tik Tok deal, with its approval leading to the agreement being resolved “in the coming weeks and months”.

Australia not immune to TikTok suspicions

In a 2020 Australian parliamentary hearing on foreign interference through social media, TikTok representatives said, “TikTok Australia data is stored in the US and Singapore, and the security and privacy of this data are our highest priority.”

On 18 June 2022, BuzzFeed published a report based on 80 leaked internal TikTok meetings that indicated numerous counts of accessing US TikTok users’ data by TikTok’s parent company ByteDance. The following month, TikTok Australia’s director of public policy, Brent Thomas, wrote to then shadow minister for cyber security, James Paterson, regarding China’s access to Australian user data.

Thomas did not deny that ByteDance could access, and provide, Australian TikTok users’ data if requested by the Chinese government based on “need”. He emphasised that he had not been asked for data from China or having “given data to the Chinese government”.

In a 2024 Senate hearing, TikTok’s director of public policy in Australia, Ella Woods-Joyce said the platform has over 8.5 million users in Australia. Under-16s will be banned from using the app from 10 December, along with other social media apps. The ban will result in about 1.5 million accounts across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Threads and X being deactivated, but concerns have been raised on how intrusive the methods may be for platforms to verify age of users (i.e. insisting on photo verification, facial identification).

Whether it’s the US deal, or Australia’s teen ban, TikTok and ByteDance face an uncertain legislative landscape ahead.