Trump signs executive order allowing TikTok deal to proceed

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that allows TikTok's U.S. operations to be moved away from the social media app's China-based owner ByteDance. The deal will see TikTok's U.S. operations separated from ByteDance to comply with a law that bans social media platforms subject to control by adversarial foreign governments like China. Trump said that he has "great respect for President Xi" and added that he "very much appreciated that he approved the deal, because to get it done properly, we really needed the support of China, the approval of China." The president said that the administration will be "announcing different things, but the U.S. comes out great, and I think China comes out great because they can have a very important legacy, and they have many other deals, you know, they have deals with us, and they have deals in this country, and they want to be treated fairly also." Vice President J.D. Vance said that the company will be valued around $14 billion in the deal, adding that "the most important thing is that it does protect Americans' data security and ensures TikTok is still accessible." "What this deal ensures, is that the American entity and American investors will actually control the algorithm. We don't want this used as a propaganda tool by any foreign government. We want to make sure that our people and our investors actually make these decisions based on what's good for their business, as opposed to what's good for another government's propaganda arm," Vance said. The vice president also said that the U.S. entity having control of TikTok's algorithm was important for fulfilling the national security requirements under the law, adding that it's needed to protect American users and to ensure the business can make decisions based on its interests and those of the userbase.