‘Unilateral Surrender’: Trump’s TikTok Deal Leaves China in the Driver’s Seat, National-Security Hawks Warn

The Trump-brokered deal to have TikTok’s Chinese parent company sell its U.S. operation to a group of American investors will effectively allow Beijing to retain control over the popular short-form video platform, national-security hawks believe.

The deal was made official after TikTok announced internally in December that TikTok’s U.S. operation will be sold to a joint venture controlled by American investors. Under the terms of the agreement, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance will retain control of the platform’s coveted algorithm, which it will lease to the U.S. entity. The Chinese company will also retain a nearly 20 percent stake in the U.S. entity and TikTok executive Adam Presser will be named CEO.

Policy experts who have been monitoring TikTok’s influence over American society for years warn that the deal does not disrupt the CCP’s ability to propagandize young Americans, given that ByteDance will remain in control of the algorithm that feeds personalized recommendations to user feeds. Plus, the new U.S. entity will be run by Presser, who served as TikTok’s head of operations while the platform was feeding American users lopsided information on issues of international importance like the war in Gaza and the Hong Kong freedom movement.

“This isn’t a divestment, it’s a smokescreen. TikTok will remain under ByteDance’s effective control. The algorithm remains under Beijing’s watchful eye, and ByteDance has the strongest ownership position inside this new consortium. Hard to see this as anything other than unilateral surrender to Xi Jinping,” said Michael Sobolik, a China expert and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank.

A bipartisan law then-President Biden signed in 2024 required ByteDance to divest from the U.S. arm of TikTok by January 2025 or face a ban because of national security concerns about China’s influence over the platform. The Supreme Court upheld the law 9-0 after TikTok challenged it, setting the stage for a deal. During his first year back in office, Trump repeatedly delayed enforcement of the law even though a deal had not been agreed upon.

“As reported, the recently finalized TikTok deal conflicts with the law Congress passed and the Supreme Court unanimously upheld. By allowing ByteDance to retain control of TikTok’s core recommendation algorithm and an ongoing operational role in the U.S. entity, the deal falls well short of a true divestiture and leaves China effectively in charge. China probably can’t believe its good fortune,” said Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a non-partisan hawkish think tank.

Liza Tobin, former China director of National Security Council in Trump’s first administration and the Biden administration, likened the TikTok agreement to allowing the Soviet Union to shape American news coverage at the height of the Cold War.

“Bottom line, the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy rightly warns against ‘hostile foreign interference’ and ‘destructive propaganda.’ But allowing TikTok to continue operating in the United States while its Chinese parent firm ByteDance maintains ownership of the algorithm runs completely counter to these warnings,” said Tobin, now a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a bipartisan think tank.

“It’s like inviting the Soviet Union to help shape the editorial decisions of major American news outlets during the Cold War.”

Trump’s leniency towards TikTok represented a stark shift from his first term, when Trump attempted to ban the platform with an executive order. In 2024, Trump came out against the bipartisan legislation mandating ByteDance’s divesture, claiming it was a gift to Meta. Attempting to reach young voters, Trump’s 2024 campaign set up an account on TikTok as the platform became a crucial digital battleground.

Taking to Truth Social, Trump celebrated the deal Thursday night and thanked Chinese ruler Xi Jinping for approving it. He also praised TikTok for helping him gain youth voters during the 2024 presidential election.

“I am so happy to have helped in saving TikTok! It will now be owned by a group of Great American Patriots and Investors, the Biggest in the World, and will be an important Voice. Along with other factors, it was responsible for my doing so well with the Youth Vote in the 2024 Presidential Election,” Trump posted.

“Thank you to Vice President JD Vance, and all of the others within my Administration, who helped bring this Deal to a very dramatic, final, and beautiful conclusion. I would also like to thank President Xi, of China, for working with us and, ultimately, approving the Deal. He could have gone the other way, but didn’t, and is appreciated for his decision,” Trump added.

TikTok’s estimated U.S. user count exceeds 150 million, making the platform extremely influential over news and culture. It is particularly popular with Millennials and Generation Z, who increasingly rely on social media for information. TikTok’s addictive recommendation algorithm and barrage of short-form videos leads its most active users to spend hours per day on the platform consuming content. The unique design of TikTok causes users to gain exposure to hundreds of videos per day on an assortment of topics.