How Oracle's plan may save TikTok from impending US ban
What's the story
Leading tech giant Oracle is said to be close to a deal to protect TikTok from a ban in the US.
The deal, according to Bloomberg, would see Oracle "vouching" for TikTok's security. In exchange, it will take a small stake in TikTok's US operations.
Oracle's proposal was reportedly discussed in the Trump administration last week and includes guarantees of no backdoor in a US version of TikTok for China's government to exploit.
Algorithm control
TikTok's algorithm may remain with ByteDance
The proposed agreement could potentially allow TikTok's algorithm to stay with its parent company, China-based ByteDance.
A source told Bloomberg that China is aware of this potential deal and will only approve it if "TikTok's algorithm remains fully under China's control."
This comes after Oracle was reported last week as a potential solution to prevent a ban on TikTok.
Project Texas
TikTok's previous efforts to address security concerns
In 2022, TikTok launched Project Texas, an attempt to address security concerns by routing US user data through Oracle servers. However, even that didn't help.
Reports emerged that Chinese employees had access to US user data and the effort was "largely cosmetic."
This didn't inspire confidence in the US government either. An appeals court ruled against TikTok last December, saying it "could not satisfactorily resolve the government's concerns."
Awaiting comments
No immediate response from TikTok or Oracle
So far, neither TikTok nor Oracle has commented on the matter.
Last week, Vice President JD Vance had said that "There will almost certainly be a high-level agreement that I think satisfies our national security concerns" by the April 5 deadline to save TikTok.
In 2020, President Donald Trump had approved Oracle's bid for TikTok when he first targeted the app.