President Trump Gives Oracle TikTok Deal His "Blessing"
TikTok is undoubtedly the hottest app in social media today. Gen Z can't get enough of all the ticking and the tocking. But if you've been following the news lately, you know that resident adults in the room, President Donald Trump and the Department of Justice, think teens are spending too much dang time on their phone. So to get America's teens to put TikTok away and come down for dinner, as well as supposedly plug some holes in alleged national security holes, the President announced a ban on TikTok unless TikTok's owners sell to an American company.
TikTok's future is a little brighter today as President Donald Trump gave Oracle and Walmart his "blessing" to buy a combined 20% stake in the social video giant. The US Department of Commerce delayed the TikTok ban that's upended the app's American presence and economy of influencers that make up its ecosystem, moving the ban's start date from September 20th to September 27th.
Under the deal, Oracle and Walmart would own a minority stake in TikTok Global, an American company that would operate TikTok. The company would have five board seats, four of which would be occupied by Americans. President Trump, whose criticisms, accusations and executive orders against TikTok forced the situation, gave the companies his "blessing."
"I have given the deal my blessing," said President Trump. If they get it done, that's great. If they don't, that's okay, too."
Earlier this summer, President Trump, whose administration had alleged that TikTok was a national security risk over the past year, signed an executive order that banned the app and forced TikTok's parent company ByteDance to relinquish ownership. For more than a year, the Trump administration accused ByteDance of handing U.S. user data to the Chinese government. ByteDance denies the allegations, saying the company keeps American data on a stateside server.
President Trump also said on Saturday that he wants the companies involved in the deal to pay $5 billion for the "National Commission to Support Patriotic Education." Speaking about his meetings with the companies at a North Carolina rally on Saturday, Trump said, "Do me a favor, could you put up $5 billion into a fund for education so we can educate people as to the real history of our country." The Commission to Support Patriotic Education, as framed by Trump, is a rebuttal to the New York Times' "1619 Project," which places slavery at the center of American history and that Trump referred to as "toxic propganda."
Under the deal, ByteDance would still own 80% of the TikTok, the company clarified. Whether or not these parties will finalize an agreement remains to be seen. One thing's for sure, if it does, one app will be trilled.