China has approved the transfer agreement for TikTok, as announced by U. S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. He expects the process to move forward in the coming weeks and months, following a meeting between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. China’s Commerce Ministry stated that it would handle TikTok-related matters with the U. S. properly.
TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has faced uncertainty regarding its future for over 18 months after a U. S. law in 2024 required the app’s Chinese owners to sell its U. S. assets by January 2025. Trump signed an executive order on September 25, stating the plan to sell TikTok’s U. S. operations to a group of U. S. and global investors meets national security standards.
The order provided 120 days to finalize the transaction and allowed for a delay in enforcing the law until January 20. The agreement stipulates that ByteDance will appoint one board member for the new entity, with the remaining six seats held by Americans, and ByteDance will own less than 20% of TikTok U. S. Concerns have been raised regarding a licensing agreement for the TikTok algorithm as part of this deal.
With information from Reuters