Vice President JD Vance visits “Fox News Sunday” on January 11, 2025.
Paul Morigi | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Vice President JD Vance on Sunday said he is optimistic about the future of TikTok in the U.S.
“I feel very confident that we have successfully separated this company from TikTok global and actually made it so that we can control people’s data security,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “We can ensure that the algorithm is not being used as a propaganda tool by a foreign government.”
The popular social media platform has long faced concerns about its data collection practices and parent company ByteDance’s relationship with the Chinese government.
After months of uncertainty following former President Joe Biden’s signing of a national security law effectively banning TikTok from U.S. app stores, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday approving a proposal that would allow TikTok to continue operating in the country.
“The way that we’ve set up this deal from a national security perspective is that it’s the American investors and the American businesspeople who will make the determination about what’s actually happening with TikTok,” said Vance, who has said the agreement values TikTok’s business at $14 billion.
Under the terms of Trump’s executive order, a new joint-venture company would oversee TikTok’s U.S. business, with ByteDance retaining less than a 20% stake. Among the company’s investors would be tech giant Oracle, private-equity firm Silver Lake and the Abu Dhabi-based MGX investment fund.
ByteDance investors, including General Atlantic, Susquehanna, and Sequoia, are expected to contribute equity in the new TikTok U.S. entity. According to the deal, the federal government would not take an equity stake — or a so-called golden share — in TikTok’s U.S. operations.
“At the end of the day, I believe that north of 80% of the company will be owned by the American investors and their partners,” said Vance. “This is not something where the Chinese or any Chinese entity has a large stake of the table.”
On the day he signed the executive order, Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping gave the deal the go ahead, while Vance said the Chinese government had some resistance to the deal.
So far, ByteDance has not acknowledged Trump’s executive order, nor has it confirmed that the transaction is actually taking place. There has also been no indication that the Chinese government has made any changes to laws that would be necessary for a deal to occur.
