Oracle will have oversight and provide security for a US version of TikTok’s algorithm, as part of a deal orchestrated by President Donald Trump to force a divestiture of the American arm of the Chinese-owned viral video app.
White House officials said on Monday the arrangement would ensure that US buyers would retain control of the app’s recommendation software after its TikTok US operations are spun off by its Chinese owner ByteDance.
These new American owners would lease a copy of the algorithm from ByteDance that would then be rebuilt by the US arm. Oracle would ensure that the app was not accessible from China. Further technical details on how this would be achieved have not been announced.