TikTok may become more right-wing as China signals approval for US sale
The US inched one step closer to taking over TikTok’s algorithm after President Donald Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday.
Neither leader confirmed that China has agreed to the terms of Trump’s proposed deal, which would create a US version of TikTok that licenses the Chinese-owned algorithm. But the Chinese Commerce Ministry provided a statement following the meeting; translated, it indicates that “China will properly resolve TikTok-related issues with the United States.”
Trump, who has long vowed to “save” TikTok, was notably silent on Thursday, but US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News ahead of Trump’s meeting with Xi that “we finalized the TikTok agreement in terms of getting Chinese approval.” According to Bessent, the deal will “finally” be resolved over the “coming weeks and months,” Reuters reported.
Related Knowledge Center: The TikTok ban
The U.S. Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed into law a measure banning TikTok if it weren’t sold by its Chinese ownership. But now-President Donald Trump gave the service a reprieve, and a sale of its U.S. operations appears imminent.