Last week, Donald Trump signed an executive order approving a proposed deal to keep TikTok operating in the US. The $14bn deal, if finalised, would see the transfer of TikTok’s US operation from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to a consortium which includes the American billionaires Larry Ellison, Oracle’s co-founder, and Rupert Murdoch, as well as two investment firms with known ties to the Trump administration.
“It’s owned by Americans, and very sophisticated Americans,” Trump said while signing the order. “This is going to be American-operated all the way.” His administration claimed the deal would meet the requirements of a security law that required ByteDance to sell its American operation or face a ban in the US, after years of concern about data security and the risks of Chinese influence.
There are fears that the proposed deal cements Trump’s grip on the US media and information landscape, after the suspension of talkshow host Jimmy Kimmel and YouTube settling a $20m lawsuit with the president. Trump even joked: “If I could make it 100% Maga, I would.”
The reporter and author Emily Baker-White tells Lucy Hough that while much about the deal was uncertain, “assuming the deal goes through, it will be controlled – at least in large part – by Trump-aligned people. That’s a really important thing to know.”
