TikTok U.S. Sale to Oracle-Led Group Set to Close in January

[MacRumors]

TikTok has agreed to sell its U.S. operations to an investment group that includes Oracle, Silver Lake, and UAE-based company MGX, reports Axios. The "TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC" that includes the three companies will own 45 percent of TikTok, while ByteDance will keep close to 20 percent. Existing investors will continue to hold the remaining shares.

The U.S. group will handle U.S. data protection and content moderation, while also maintaining algorithm security. It has been tasked with retraining the content recommendation algorithm on U.S. user data to "ensure the content feed is free from outside manipulation." Oracle will be in charge of auditing and validating compliance with National Security Terms.

The agreement states that the USDS Joint Venture will "operate as an independent entity" that has authority over U.S. data protection, while TikTok's global U.S. entities will manage global product interoperability along with e-commerce, advertising, and marketing.

With the sale, TikTok will be able to continue operating in the United States while complying with the 2024 Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. The act required TikTok parent company ByteDance to sell TikTok's U.S. operations to a non-Chinese company or be banned from operating in the United States.

TikTok was briefly banned in January, but Donald Trump signed an executive order granting an extension that brought it back. The ban has been extended multiple times since then to provide additional time for a deal to be established. The agreement is set to go into effect on January 22.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: TikTok U.S. Sale to Oracle-Led Group Set to Close in January

 

[hieranonymous]

Time to permanently delete my account. 🤗

 

[turbineseaplane]

Really, everyone should stop using TikTok.

Being owned by the Ellisons, Jared Kushner's firm, Abu Dhabi's state investment fund, and still 20%+ by the Chinese isn't any better than how it has been.

Everyone involved just locked in a huge payday by being allowed to purchase way under value.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

I'm not allowed to say what I'm actually thinking but y'know what? Credit where credit is due, impressive maneuvering by all entities involved.

 

[rictus007]

Time to permanently delete my account. 🤗

It is always to good time to delete your account ... regardless of who is the new owner.

 

[turbineseaplane]

It is always to good time to delete your account ... regardless of who is the new owner.

I remember a long time ago when a friend was in on it early and described it to me as "like crack"..

And I was like ... "and you're using it?"

 

[tongxinshe]

Why don’t the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, etc. get to require the exact same thing? Is it that ByteDance is only afraid of the US government but not any of the others?

 

[jarman92]

In case anyone is curious—no, this arrangement does not comply with the law.

 

[steve333]

TikTok should have been banned already

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Proud member of the Never Had an Account Club.

…and based on the new owners, never will.

 

[jchap]

I remember a long time ago when a friend was in on it early and described it to me as "like crack"..

And I was like ... "and you're using it?"

MacRumors is like crack too, and we still use it. Wonder what that says about us.

 

[KanosWRX]

Damn should have just let it get banned and rid ourselves of that crap once and for all.. now were stuck with it forever 🙁

 

[drrich2]

Really, everyone should stop using TikTok.

Being owned by the Ellisons, Jared Kushner's firm, Abu Dhabi's state investment fund, and still 20%+ by the Chinese isn't any better than how it has been.

Someone once said people who love sausage and respect the law should not watch either one being made.

I suspect a lot of the big brand name products and vendors we enjoy could also fall into such a category. Amazon, Walmart, what are the odds if we saw the entire supply chain process from raw materials to the Prime package on our porches, etc., that we'd find nothing objectionable?

I'm off to see what Amazon 'Haul' can offer under $5.

 

[hg.wells]

Why don’t the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, etc. get to require the exact same thing? Is it that ByteDance is only afraid of the US government but not any of the others?

They could, but they haven’t.

 

[turbineseaplane]

MacRumors is like crack too, and we still use it. Wonder what that says about us.

No black box algorithm feeding us things and getting hooked in the same way though...

Unless we count "EU Threads" 🙃

 

[TFrank2]

I remember a long time ago when a friend was in on it early and described it to me as "like crack"..

And I was like ... "and you're using it?"

It’s bad enough when folks don’t realize themselves getting sucked in…but knowingly doing it, and continuing to, shows how addictive the platform can be

 

[Astuces iOS]

Can we close all tik tok? It’s full of dummy videos !

 

[indefinite]

What audience is TikTok for other than zombie media consumers? By now, I'm sure everyone has switched to X, or even Instagram for social networking.

 

[barfingclouds]

Time to permanently delete my account. 🤗

Are you serious? China has already started using tiktok as a means of social warfare. I get the companies it got sold to aren't your favorite, but this is clearly an improvement

 

[SoldOnApple]

Wish Apple bought it and turned it into a YouTube competitor.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

What audience is TikTok for other than zombie media consumers? By now, I'm sure everyone has switched to X, or even Instagram for social networking.

No one is switching to X, from anywhere, except maybe Truth Social.

 

[aibloop]

Time to permanently delete my account. 🤗

Currently there is a way to do that(maybe) Yeah, I was thinking the same

 

[Art Mark]

The fear people have, especially so called conservatives, of the world is harming us. Handing over control to this unholy conglomeration may mean the algorithm becomes as bad as Instagram and Facebook.I fear the quality will decline and all in the name of 'we're scared of other countries'. Of course we expect the world to keep buying US made products and services, but that will stop at some point too.

 

[JensenKA]

****’s gonna be wall to wall right wing propaganda for sure.

 

[hieranonymous]

Are you serious? China has already started using tiktok as a means of social warfare. I get the companies it got sold to aren't your favorite, but this is clearly an improvement

Here’s the thing: I don’t care if China collects a bunch of data about me. I’m not a citizen of China. I have no plans to go to China. Larry Ellison has been highly unambiguous about wanting to surveil Americans on behalf of the current administration and turn Palantir into some kind of Orwellian overwatch. Acquiring TikTok has been one of the stated pillars of that endeavor.