An agreement to keep TikTok in the US has been reached, but President Trump’s announcement of the deal is more about averting a messy ban and a public relations nightmare than about having a truly secure, long-term fix. Granted, the framework deal suggests a transfer of ownership to a U.S. buyer, but it completely sidesteps the most problematic which is : China’s control over TikTok’s valuable algorithm and its ability to influence the platform’s content.
The core of the national security concerns with TikTok has always been its algorithm. It’s what makes the app so addictive, and it’s the primary vehicle for potential foreign influence. Chinese officials have explicitly said that any deal would include licensing the intellectual property, including the algorithm, not selling it outright.
This means that even with a U.S. owner, the app could still be a tool for data collection, with a direct line back to Beijing. The Trump administration’s willingness to accept this shows that the deal is a political gambit to appease the app’s young users and avoid the fallout of a full-scale ban, which has been repeatedly delayed.
