TikTok Transfer Approved! — China Nods, Trump Smiles, Oracle Breathes — At Least That's The Rumor...

By Oct. 30, 2025, the TikTok sale drama had hit a new act: U.S. officials said China had approved a transfer agreement for TikTok’s U.S. operations during talks tied to President Trump’s recent diplomacy — though Beijing’s public language was more circumspect. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters that China had approved the deal during discussions in Malaysia, but China’s Commerce Ministry only said the two countries would “work with the U.S. to properly resolve issues related to TikTok,” stopping short of a firm, signed-and-sealed confirmation. 

In short: the presidents smiled and negotiators kept their pens warm.

So what exactly are we talking about? 

The framework under discussion would create a U.S.-based company to run TikTok’s American operations, led by a consortium of U.S. investors — prominently Oracle and private-equity firm Silver Lake — with ByteDance reduced to a minority stake (reported at under 20%) to comply with the 2024 U.S. law that compelled divestiture or a ban. 

That structure is meant to shift control to U.S. soil while leaving ByteDance with a small financial stake. 

But as with all multi-headed deals, the devil is in the details (and who gets to keep which codes).

One of the trickiest details — and the bit that makes tech nerds and national-security lawyers both mutter into their coffee — is the algorithm. 

Under the current plan, a copy of TikTok’s recommendation algorithm would be provided to Oracle, retrained on U.S. data and overseen by U.S.-based security partners so Washington’s national-security concerns are (theoretically) addressed. 

In plain language: Oracle would host and help re-teach the code to behave like a locally trained dog rather than a foreign one. 

Reporters and analysts note that “retrain and monitor” is easier to promise than to implement, especially when parts of the codebase are tightly held and constantly evolving.

Meanwhile, TikTok itself continues to operate in the U.S. for roughly 170 million users, thanks to a sequence of executive orders from President Trump that have repeatedly extended deadlines and paused an earlier ban issued under the 2024 law. 

Those extensions have kept the app running while negotiators attempt to finalize a sale — but they’ve also raised legal questions about executive authority and whether such pauses have a firm statutory footing. 

Critics argue the repeated delays risk appearing partisan or ad hoc; supporters say they buy time for a workable, security-focused solution.

From the security side, longstanding concerns remain. 

U.S. officials — and public witnesses including FBI Director Christopher Wray in past hearings — have warned that TikTok’s architecture and ties to ByteDance create risks: data access, potential algorithmic influence, and the theoretical possibility of software-level “backdoors.” 

TikTok has long countered this narrative with Project Texas — its effort to store U.S. user data on Oracle-hosted servers and to isolate U.S. operations under American oversight — and with repeated denials that it has provided or would provide user data to the Chinese government. 

The company stresses it’s an entertainment platform and not a spying tool; skeptics say only durable structural and legal guarantees will be persuasive.

So why isn’t the deal done yet? 

Negotiations are filling in knotty technical, legal and governance questions: Who actually “operates” the algorithm after a lease or copy is transferred? 

How do inspectors verify retraining without handing over sensitive intellectual property? 

What legal mechanism prevents future foreign influence if ByteDance still holds a financial stake? 

And — politically unavoidable — how do lawmakers on both sides of the aisle demonstrate they have been consulted and satisfied that national-security risks have been addressed? 

Those questions help explain why officials describe progress with cautious optimism rather than triumphant confetti.

If the deal moves forward, expect a flurry of legal filings, oversight hearings, and codicils to the agreement about data access, auditing, and “kill-switch” authority — plus careful language on exactly how the algorithm will be retrained and who gets audit rights. 

If it stalls, expect more executive maneuvers and a refreshed legal fight over the 2024 divestiture mandate. 

Either way, the next few weeks and months are likely to be full of carefully worded statements, terse denials and, of course, more headlines.

For TikTok’s 170 million U.S. users, the practical takeaway is simple: for now the app stays online, the deal could change ownership and operations in ways that affect where and how your data is stored, and the rhetoric from both capitals will keep swirling until negotiators lock the fine print. 

For everyone else, it’s a reminder that geopolitics these days often looks like corporate M&A — but with higher stakes and more diplomats in the Zoom room.

TikTok Possibly Saved by a Handshake, a Trade Talk, and Maybe an Oracle...

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