“Sociable” is the newest commentary on necessary social media developments and trends from industry expert Andrew Hutchinson of Social Media Today.
TikTok has now officially confirmed that it’s established a brand new joint enterprise with a gaggle of U.S. partners to satisfy the necessities of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act within the U.S., which is able to be sure that the platform stays in operation for U.S. users.
As per TikTok:
“Today, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC has been established in compliance with the Executive Order signed by President Trump on September 25, 2025, now enabling greater than 200 million Americans and seven.5 million businesses to proceed to find, create, and thrive as a part of TikTok’s vibrant global community and experience. The majority American owned Joint Venture will operate under defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurances for U.S. users.”
TikTok says that the USDS Joint Venture’s mandate is to secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm through comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity measures.
“It will safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem through robust trust and safety policies and content moderation while ensuring continuous accountability through transparency reporting and third-party certifications.”
The business can be overseen by a seven person panel, including TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Egon Durban of Silver Lake, and Kenneth Glueck from Oracle.
The recent enterprise will even cover CapCut and Lemon8, in addition to “a portfolio of other apps and web sites within the U.S.”
Also, TikTok’s algorithm can be partially re-written:
“The Joint Venture will retrain, test, and update the content suggestion algorithm on U.S. user data. The content suggestion algorithm can be secured in Oracle’s U.S. cloud environment.”
That could mean a change, though it depends on exactly how much the group is required to vary, and the way much it might share with TikTok’s Chinese head office.
TikTok also says that U.S. users is not going to should download a brand new app, as had been indicated in some reports.
So, after five years of forwards and backwards, TikTok has been saved, with TikTok, and parent company ByteDance, maintaining a big stake within the app.
TikTok had till tomorrow (Jan. 23) to satisfy the necessities of the bill, based on the newest extension of its deadline granted by U.S. President Donald Trump. The Oracle-led joint enterprise was pitched to TikTok execs back in September, and it’s taken 4 months to hash out the ultimate details and ensure it ticks all of the boxes.
Semafor had reported earlier within the day that a deal was imminent, with U.S. and Chinese negotiators finally coming to terms, and signing off on the particulars.
As further reported by TechCrunch:
“According to a memo viewed by TechCrunch, the investor group consists of Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and investment firm MGX. Collectively, they are going to hold 45% of the U.S. operation, with ByteDance keeping nearly a 20% stake.”
The recent TikTok entity will essentially operate a separate variation of the app within the U.S., though as noted, it would not require users to download a brand new app.
So excellent news for TikTok users and creators, while the corporate has also had a win on one other foreign front.
TikTok can be celebrating a win in Canada, with a federal court ruling that the Canadian government’s attempts to force the corporate out of the local market attributable to national security concerns aren’t valid.
In November 2024, the Canadian government issued an order for TikTok to dissolve its Canadian business, citing national security risks. At the time, then Canadian Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said that the order was based on “national security risks” focusing specifically on the operations “conducted in Canada by TikTok at their offices.”
Canadian authorities offered no further clarification, but mainly, there have been concerns that something happening within the local TikTok buildings was cause for concern.
To be clear, the order doesn’t relate to the app being available within the region, TikTok would still be accessible in Canada either way, however the ruling would have forced TikTok’s local business to shut down, and stop operations within the nation.
Which would have impacted a whole bunch of local TikTok employees, but now, they will rest easy, with the court siding with TikTok in opposing the ban.
Possibly also worthy of note is that the Canadian government also signed a brand new bilateral agreement with China this week.
So while there are some lingering concerns in regards to the app, and the specter of foreign surveillance and manipulation stays significant, based on various cybersecurity advisories, TikTok will remain lively and available in most regions.
Is that thing? Well, it’s for creators, and for the various thousands and thousands of people that scroll through the app day-after-day. But when it comes to foreign interference, it looks as if there’s still some element of concern there, which can never come to anything, or may grow to be a much larger deal, likely looking back.
Either way, TikTok is saved, as President Trump had promised.
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