Fresh off Jimmy Kimmel returning to TV to warn that Donald Trump's attacks on free speech would not end with censoring comedians critical of his administration, Trump signed an executive order to "save" TikTok, while supposedly joking that he'd like to censor influencers by tweaking the algorithm so that content is "100 percent MAGA."
"Everyone is going to be treated fairly," the president added—seemingly covering his tracks as critics warn that TikTok under US ownership could soon carry a right-wing bias, perhaps going the way of Twitter after Elon Musk took over and rebranded it as X.
On Sunday, Trump told Fox News that media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan, the CEO of Fox Corporation, would likely be part of the investor group taking over TikTok's US operations. That deal—which Trump claimed Thursday was tentatively approved by Chinese President Xi Jinping—was set up to ensure that TikTok complies with a law banning majority ownership of the app by a foreign adversary in order to protect Americans from spying or foreign influence on the algorithm.
Trump's executive order confirmed that Oracle would be charged with securing American TikTokers' data. It also laid out how the new US venture would be managed by a new board of directors, on which ByteDance—TikTok's owner, which has remained silent on the sale and did not respond to Ars' request to comment—would retain one seat. The other six seats would go to US investors to ensure the app was US-controlled, Trump said, with Oracle's CEO Larry Ellison likely filling one, while his son David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance, could possibly fill another, The Guardian reported.
Whether Xi will actually approve the deal has yet to be seen, as Chinese media has not confirmed Trump's claim that he had a "good talk" with Xi in which the Chinese president gave him the "go ahead" to move forward with the sale to US owners.
Previously, experts had suggested that China had little incentive to follow through with the deal, while as recently as July, ByteDance denied reports that it agreed to sell TikTok to the US, the South China Morning Post reported. Yesterday, Reuters noted that Vice President JD Vance confirmed that the "new US company will be valued at around $14 billion," a price tag "far below some analyst estimates," which might frustrate ByteDance. Questions also remain over what potential concessions Trump may have made to get Xi's sign-off.
It's also unclear if Trump's deal meets the legal requirements of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, with Reuters reporting that "numerous details" still need to be "fleshed out." Last Friday, James Sullivan of JP Morgan suggested on CNBC that "Trump’s proposed TikTok deal lacked clarity on who is in control of the algorithm, leaving the national security concerns wide open," CNBC reported.
Other critics, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation's civil liberties director David Greene, warned in a statement to Ars that the US now risks "turning over" TikTok "to the allies of a President who seems to have no respect for the First Amendment."
Jennifer Huddleston, a senior fellow in technology policy at the Cato Institute, agreed. "The arrangement creates uncertainty about what influence or oversight the US government might require over this separate algorithm that could raise potential First Amendment concerns regarding government influence over a private actor," Huddleston said.
Will TikTok become right-wing?
The Guardian recently conducted a deep dive into how the Murdochs' and Ellisons' involvement could "gift Trump’s billionaire allies a degree of control over US media that would be vast and unprecedented" by allowing "the owners of the US’s most powerful cable TV channels" to "steer the nation’s most influential social network."
Trump, of course, denied that there could be a conflict. He also insisted that the deal satisfies the requirements of the law requiring TikTok to divest ownership and keep Americans' data away from China. In a fact sheet, he boasted that he "found a solution for the 170 million Americans who use TikTok, ensuring users will be able to safely enjoy the same global TikTok experience and view content from around the world with the confidence that their data is secure in the United States."
The president further claimed that "preserving TikTok’s business will generate $178 billion in economic activity in the US over the next four years and sustain thousands of US jobs and businesses."
But that depends on US TikTokers sticking around while US owners license the algorithm from ByteDance and retrain it on US data rather than purchasing the algorithm outright. In July, sources told The Information that the US controlling the app and the algorithm could result in technical issues, possibly driving away users to alternative apps if the algorithm is viewed as less effective at recommending desirable content.
Another wrinkle in Trump's deal that could turn off some TikTokers is the amount of involvement the government has in the app. Four insiders familiar with the deal's terms told The New York Times that "investors have been in discussions to pay a multibillion-dollar transaction fee to the US government," while other sources previously told The Wall Street Journal that at least one board member of TikTok US would likely be designated by the government.
The Cato Institute's Huddleston warned that "the government's involvement in the overall business decisions and comments indicating it could seek a potential cut of the deal could also set a concerning precedent," setting up a potential future where the government uses the so-called TikTok ban-or-sale law to take a cut and commandeer other popular apps.
Hubble svela una nana bianca affamata di pianeti ghiacciati