The TikTok deal is done, finally
is a senior editor following news across tech, culture, policy, and entertainment. He joined The Verge in 2021 after several years covering news at Engadget.
Just over a year after it briefly disappeared from app stores, TikTok in the US is now part of a new entity, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. With approval from both the US and China closing on the schedule laid out in December, ByteDance’s ownership of the new joint venture is now only 19.9 percent to satisfy the terms of the divest-or-ban law signed in 2024 by President Biden. The other 80.1 percent is owned by investment firm Silver Lake, Oracle, and Abu Dhabi investment firm MGX — the three “managing investors” that now hold 15 percent stakes — and several other smaller investors, like Michael Dell’s family investment firm.
A press release announcing the deal’s closure didn’t say how much those stakes cost or give details about potentially launching a new app in the US. It did say that the joint venture’s oversight of “comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurances for U.S. users” will apply to TikTok, the video editor CapCut, Lemon8, and “a portfolio” of other apps and services.
For now, most of what we know is about the joint venture’s seven-member board, which includes TikTok US CEO Shou Zi Chew, and its first executive appointments, with TikTok’s former head of operations and trust and safety, Adam Presser, now serving as CEO.
Interoperability enables the Joint Venture to provide U.S. users with a global TikTok experience, ensuring U.S. creators can be discovered and businesses can operate on a global scale. TikTok global’s U.S. entities will manage global product interoperability and certain commercial activities, including e-commerce, advertising, and marketing.
TikTok USDS Joint Venture’s mandate is to secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm through comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity measures. It will safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem through robust trust and safety policies and content moderation while ensuring continuous accountability through transparency reporting and third-party certifications.
Data Protection: U.S. user data will be protected by USDS Joint Venture in Oracle’s secure U.S. cloud environment. The Joint Venture will operate a comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity program that is audited and certified by third party cybersecurity experts. The program will adhere to major industry standards, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) CSF and 800-53 and ISO 27001 as well as the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Security Requirements for Restricted Transactions.
Algorithm Security: The Joint Venture will retrain, test, and update the content recommendation algorithm on U.S. user data. The content recommendation algorithm will be secured in Oracle’s U.S. cloud environment.
Software Assurance: The Joint Venture will secure U.S. apps through software assurance protocols, and review and validate source code on an ongoing basis, assisted by its Trusted Security Partner, Oracle.
Trust & Safety: The Joint Venture will safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem and have decision-making authority for trust and safety policies and content moderation.
TikTok USDS Joint Venture has three managing investors, Silver Lake, Oracle and MGX, each holding 15%. Completing the full consortium of investors are: Dell Family Office, the investment firm of Michael Dell, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies; Vastmere Strategic Investments, LLC, an affiliate of Susquehanna International Group, LLP; Alpha Wave Partners; Revolution; Merritt Way, LLC controlled and managed by partners of Dragoneer; Via Nova, an affiliate of General Atlantic; Virgo LI, Inc., investment arm of a foundation established by Yuri and Julia Milner in support of science; and NJJ Capital, the family office of Xavier Niel, a French entrepreneur and pioneer in telecommunications. ByteDance retains 19.9% of the Joint Venture.
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