TikTok, the hugely popular social video platform, is officially here to stay.
After years of questions about TikTok’s future in America, the social media platform and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, have finalized the app’s US joint venture.
The deal was established under an Executive Order signed by President Trump in September that required ByteDance and its affiliates to divest majority ownership of U.S. operation to an American-led investor group.
In an announcement posted Thursday, TikTok said the U.S. Joint Venture now has three managing investors: Silver Lake, Oracle and Emerati investment firm MGX, each holding 15%, with ByteDance retaining 19.9% of investments.
The new venture will be headed by Adam Presser, who previously worked as TikTok’s head of operations and trust and safety. He will join a seven-member, majority-American board of directors that includes TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew.
ByteDance had been under pressure to divest its ownership in the app’s U.S. operations or face a nationwide ban after Congress passed a law that went into effect a year ago.
Under new safeguards, there will be more protections for users’ data and algorithms, as well as better content moderation and software assurances, the company said.
The new version will operate under “defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurances for U.S. users,” the company said in its statement Thursday.
These protections will be secured by Oracle’s cloud environment. The tech company’s Executive Chairman Larry Ellison has also been making headlines for attempting to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery through Paramount.
The app will continue to function normally for American users. According to TikTok, there are over 200 million US users and 7.5 million businesses that use the platform.
The news, announced last month, comes as a relief to many U.S.-based influencers, many of who operate in Southern California, who rely on the social media platform for their livelihood.
The deal removes a shadow that was cast over the future of TikTok, which has become one of the world’s most dominant social media platforms and has a large presence in Culver City.
The company’s business in the U.S. had been uncertain for many years amid security concerns among legislators about ByteDance’s ties to China.
President Trump — who years ago led the push to ban TikTok from the U.S. — has allowed TikTok to keep operating in the country and in September signed the executive order outlining the new joint venture.
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