After briefly going dark in the US to comply with the divest-or-ban law targeting ByteDance that went into effect on January 19th, TikTok quickly came back online. It eventually reappeared in the App Store and Google Play as negotiations between the US and China continued, and Donald Trump continued to sign extensions directing officials not to apply the law’s penalties.
Finally, in mid-December, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew told employees that the agreements to create TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which includes Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX as part owners, have been signed, and the deal is expected to close on January 22nd, 2026. His letter said that for users in the US, the new joint venture will oversee data protection, the security of a newly-retrained algorithm, content moderation, and the deployment of the US app and platform.
