TikTok Algorithm to be ‘Retrained’ by Oracle in US Deal Expected Later This Week

President Donald Trump is reportedly expected to approve a TikTok deal this week that would transfer a majority stake from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to American investors and put US tech company Oracle in charge of retraining and securing the platform’s algorithm.

The Details: Fox News (Right bias) was the first to report the news and cited “a senior White House official” as its source. The official said, “President Trump is expected to sign an Executive Order later this week to approve the proposed deal.” In addition to retraining the algorithm, user data would be stored in a “trusted” cloud in the US. On Sunday, Trump said Dell founder Michael Dell and Fox Corp. leaders Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch may be part of the new ownership group. According to CNN (Lean Left), “a source familiar with the matter” said Fox Corp. would be an investor, but not the Murdochs individually.

The Algorithm: Several outlets from the left and center framed articles around the algorithm’s oversight, changing hands. Since Hamas’ October 7 terror attack on Israel, both Democratic and Republican politicians have expressed concern regarding pro-Palestinian speech on the platform. Previously, some media have documented the difference between TikTok’s algorithm in China and the US, reporting that in China, free expression is more stifled and the app prevents youths from scrolling for more than 40 minutes.

For Context: Data for the 170 million US users is already held on Oracle’s servers, according to TikTok. Oracle co-founder and chairman Larry Ellison was recently and briefly the world’s richest person. Earlier this year, President Trump said he would like to see Ellison buy TikTok. ByteDance established direct ties to China’s ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), in 2014.

How The Media Covered It: Fox opened its coverage with emphasis on how the deal will serve American national security interests and mentioned that the algorithm will be retrained later in its report. Many outlets from the left and center framed their articles around this detail. Fox did not mention that it may be one of the app’s new investors.

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