President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday, Sept. 25, that clears the way for American investors to take a majority stake in TikTok.
Under the agreement, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, will retain less than 20% ownership. The rest will go to “certain investors,” according to the order.
This “qualified divestiture,” the order states, ensures that “millions of Americans who enjoy TikTok every day” can continue using the platform while safeguarding national security.
“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said during the signing ceremony. He also credited Chinese President Xi Jinping for helping move the deal forward. “I very much appreciate that he approved the deal, because to get it done properly, we really needed the support of China and the approval of China.”
Trump hinted that Oracle founder Larry Ellison, tech entrepreneur Michael Dell, and media executive Rupert Murdoch are likely to be among the investors.
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When asked if allies like Ellison and Murdoch taking control could shift TikTok’s content in a more “MAGA-related” direction, Trump smiled. “I always like MAGA-related. If I could, I’d make it 100% MAGA,” he said, drawing laughter. But he quickly added, “It’s not gonna work out that way, unfortunately. Everyone’s gonna be treated fairly. Every group, every philosophy, every policy will be treated very fairly.”
Not everyone is on board. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren criticized the move, saying in a statement to PEOPLE that “Donald Trump wants to hand over even more control of what you watch to his billionaire buddies, and a foreign government is helping him do it.”
She pointed to Abu Dhabi-based MGX — a rumored participant in the deal — which is owned by the United Arab Emirates. Warren accused the firm of cutting “shady” agreements to access sensitive U.S. technology while “enriching the Trump family’s crypto firm.”
“The American people deserve to know if the President has struck another backdoor deal for this billionaire takeover of TikTok,” she added.
Trump, who had hinted at the TikTok arrangement during his recent state visit to the U.K., argued the app played a role in his political success. “As you know, we did unbelievably well with youth, like, at a level that no Republican has ever even dreamt of. And, you know, look, I think we won it for a lot of reasons, but that was a reason we won the election by such a big number.”
“TikTok has tremendous value,” he continued. “The United States has that value in its hand because we’re the ones that have to approve it… The people that are investing in it are among the greatest investors in the world, the biggest, the richest, and they’ll do a great job.”
