Today, President Donald Trump announced major news concerning the ongoing U.S. TikTok deal. For the past several years, the popular social media app has concerned U.S. policymakers, given its Chinese origins. The app’s parent company, ByteDance, has sparked concerns about user tracking in America.
In 2024, Congress passed a law banning TikTok unless it was sold to an American company. However, the deadline for said sale has constantly been extended by the Trump administration, who partially credits the app’s ability to reach younger generations with his electoral victory last November.
In an interview with Fox News, the American president proclaimed that major progress has been made on the sale of TikTok. The deal is now slated to involve the most prolific family in global media ownership in the modern age. Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch are owners of Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post, among a multitude of other smaller publishing outlets across the globe. According to Trump administration insiders, Fox Corporation will be involved in any investment in TikTok U.S.
The new deal will not give the purchasing party ownership over the entirety of TikTok, just the United States branch. That being said, this would still give the would-be Republican buyers influence on the 170 million national users that the app boasts.
“Rupert is probably gonna be in the group…[and] a couple of others,” Trump said. The others to whom the president is referring include Larry Ellison and Michael Dell. Ellison is a co-founder of Oracle Corporation and recently made headlines for purchasing nearly the entirety of the Hawaiian island of Lanai. Michael Dell is the founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies and the current 10th richest man on earth.
The Murdochs would not be individual investors; instead, they would make the deal through the Fox corporation. The involvement of the Murdochs befuddled many, given their tumultuous past with Trump. The Wall Street Journal, owned by Rupert, published allegations accusing the president of sending the alleged pedophile kingpin Jeffrey Epstein a jarring 50th birthday note in 2003. The note contained sexual drawings and references to secrets between the two. Trump sued the newspaper company for defamation in July of this year after warning Murdoch not to have the story published. Only last month, on Aug. 4, was the matter addressed, where the two giants agreed to postpone a deposition until Sept. 22.
The TikTok deal progress came only a few days after Trump said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to meet in South Korea for a face-to-face meeting discussing the deal, among other pressing world issues. The call was the first in many months and lasted two hours, with Trump reporting President Xi had “approved the TikTok deal.” On Saturday Sept. 20, ByteDance itself released a statement thanking the two world leaders concerned with resolving the TikTok issue, and is looking to maintain its commitment to Chinese legal requirements.
Concerning the specifics of the deal, not much has been said by any party. Investors are still lining up, and nothing is set in stone, though there are indications that the deal would allow for U.S. control over the app’s algorithm in American servers.
