Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a deal to transfer control of TikTok to US owners and keep the social platform available has been agreed to after meetings between American and Chinese officials.
“We finalised the TikTok agreement in terms of getting Chinese approval and I would expect that will go forward in the coming weeks and months so we can finally see a resolution to that,” Mr Bessent told Fox Business Channel on Thursday.
While previous announcements of a TikTok deal from the White House have not been backed up by Beijing, a post on X by the Chinese embassy in the US implied that it was one of several “outcomes achieved” during recent meetings between US and Chinese delegations in Kuala Lumpur.
“China will properly resolve issues related to TikTok with the US side,” read another post from Chinese representative Liu Pengyu.
TikTok has not yet responded to The National’s requests for comment.
The video-based social media platform used by at least 170 million Americans has come under criticism in recent years as elected officials and technology experts voiced concerns that US data could be compromised by China’s government.
TikTok is owned by ByteDance, which is based in China. The company has repeatedly denied accusations about US user data being breached.
Specifics about a deal to keep TikTok operating remain unclear, but Bloomberg has previously reported that Oracle, Silver Lake Management and Abu Dhabi-based investment company MGX were among those in talks to invest in a US version of the social platform and receive board seats in the venture.
During a recent appearance on CBS, Republican Representative John Moolenaar, chairman of the House select committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said he had reservations about the potential deal with ByteDance.
“The law requires a divestment and getting Chinese Party control away from the app as well as the algorithm, and allows ownership only up to 20 per cent for ByteDance,” he said, referring to the 2024 law passed by Congress that sought to force TikTok to be sold to a US entity.
“How you get that algorithm completely out of Chinese control is going to be up to the experts. There’s six million pieces of code in the algorithm and we need to make sure it’s protected for the American people.
“We want to make sure that data from Americans is kept secure and I think as long as the Chinese are involved there are reasons for distrust.”
On January 18, ByteDance briefly deactivated TikTok in the US after it failed to meet a deadline for divesting the platform to a US owner.
The blackout was lifted several days later after President Donald Trump decided to give ByteDance an extension.
He has since given the China-based company several more extensions during continuing negotiations.
