By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is working on a plan to save TikTok that involves tapping software company Oracle (NYSE:) and a group of outside investors to effectively take control of the app’s global operations, National Public Radio reported on Saturday.
Under the deal being negotiated by the White House, TikTok’s China-based owner, ByteDance, would retain a minority stake in the company, but the app’s algorithm, data collection and software updates would be overseen by Oracle, which already provides the foundation of TikTok’s Web infrastructure, NPR reported.
The NPR report cited two people with knowledge of the talks. The White House and Oracle had no immediate comment.
The short video app used by 170 million Americans was taken offline temporarily for users shortly before a law that said it must be sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance on national security grounds, or be banned, took effect on Jan. 19.
Trump, after taking office a day later, signed an executive order seeking to delay by 75 days the enforcement of the law that was put in place after U.S. officials warned that under ByteDance, there was a risk of Americans’ data being misused.
The possible deal reported by NPR would mean that American investors would own a majority stake in TikTok. However, the report added that the terms of the deal could change and are still being hammered out.
“The goal is for Oracle to effectively monitor and provide oversight with what is going on with TikTok,” a person directly involved in the talks but not authorized to speak publicly was quoted as saying by NPR.
“ByteDance wouldn’t completely go away, but it would minimize Chinese ownership.”
Other potential investors who are engaged in the talks include Microsoft (NASDAQ:), NPR reported.
Officials from Oracle and the White House held a meeting on Friday about a potential deal, and another meeting has been scheduled for next week, NPR reported.
Oracle was interested in a TikTok stake “in the tens of billions,” but the rest of the deal is in flux, the NPR report cited the source as saying.
Trump has said he “would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture” in TikTok.
NPR cited another source as saying that appeasing Congress is seen as a key hurdle by the White House.
Free speech advocates have opposed TikTok’s ban under a law passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by former President Joe Biden.
The company says U.S. officials misstated its ties to China, arguing its content recommendation engine and user data are stored in the United States on cloud servers operated by Oracle while content moderation decisions that affect American users are also made in the U.S.
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