The long fight to keep TikTok off the chopping block in America took a decisive turn this week when ByteDance and a group of investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX signed binding agreements to create a new U.S. joint venture. The deal, announced December 18, 2025, is set to close on January 22, 2026, and it’s being billed as a way to avert the nationwide ban that Congress warned about. For millions of Americans who use the platform for business and entertainment, this agreement buys time — but it must be watched closely.
This is a national security win only if it’s real, not a paper shuffle. The new U.S. entity will claim responsibility for data protection, algorithm oversight and content moderation, with Oracle positioned as the trusted security partner and the algorithm supposed to be retrained on American data. Yet ByteDance will still retain a minority stake of roughly 19.9 percent, and that one fact alone means Americans cannot afford a wink-and-nod approach.
Let’s be clear about what forced this moment: Congress acted in 2024, the courts backed up the need for divestiture, and pressure from a determined administration forced serious negotiations. Conservative persistence on homeland security and tech sovereignty paid off where casual oversight once failed. This was about protecting American data and our kids’ feeds from foreign regimes that don’t share our values.
But skepticism is justified. Under the deal, ByteDance will continue to control key commercial pieces like advertising and e-commerce, and licensing or technical ties to the algorithm raise real questions about how independent this “U.S. control” will be in practice. The history of these corporate restructurings is full of clever workarounds; regulators must treat that possibility as the default, not the exception. Americans deserve audited proof that the algorithm and data are truly U.S.-only and under accountable American leadership.
This moment also exposes the broader rot in Big Tech, where profit-hungry boards and partisan platforms put ideology and market share ahead of national security. For years TikTok and other platforms shaped what millions of citizens saw, often with opaque rules and biased moderation. If we are serious about fair public discourse and national defense, then ownership and governance must reflect American interests, not foreign masters or coastal elites.
Congress, the administration, and independent auditors now have a responsibility to convert headlines into hard guarantees: enforceable timelines, on-site inspections, transparent auditing reports, and real penalties for any backsliding. Anything less will be a symbolic victory that leaves American security exposed. Lawmakers should also require periodic reviews and the option to unwind the deal if the safeguards fail.
Hardworking Americans who build small businesses, teach kids, and create culture on platforms like TikTok deserve clarity and safety, not corporate sleight-of-hand. If this agreement can be turned into enforceable, verifiable American control, it will be a rare example of government, investors and voters protecting the public interest. Until then, patriots should celebrate cautiously and insist on relentless oversight to make sure this deal actually defends our freedoms and our data.
