TikTok announced on Thursday that they have reached an agreement that will allow the popular short video app to continue operating in the United States.
The deal ends a long-running tussle that began during Trump’s first term to ban TikTok on security grounds.
If TikTok’s Chinese-owned company ByteDance failed to sell its US operations to American investors by January 2025, the app would have been banned in the US. But President Trump has repeatedly pushed back the deadline for the law to take effect.
Washington has been pushing TikTok to sell its business for years, citing concerns about the security of users’ data as ByteDance is a Chinese company.
US lawmakers feared Beijing could force the company to hand over user data. However, TikTok and ByteDance have been denying this claim since the beginning.
Trump first talked about banning TikTok in 2020, which gained momentum under Joe Biden. In 2024, then-President Biden signed a law requiring ByteDance to either sell TikTok or face a ban.
This led to a legal battle between ByteDance and the US government, and in January last year, the app went offline in the US for 12 to 14 hours. The app was later reactivated when President-elect Trump promised to lift the ban.
Last September, Trump announced that he had reached an agreement with China to keep the app running in the United States.
TikTok CEO Shou Ji Chiu said that last December, the final agreement was signed with American and global investors to manage TikTok’s US business. TikTok’s recent announcement further details the deal.
As per the agreement, TikTok formed a new entity called ‘USDS Joint Venture LLC’. The company will protect US users’ data, apps and algorithms through special data privacy and cyber security measures.
Trump wrote on social media about this deal, “I am very happy to help protect TikTok.”
