TikTok will soon have new overlords, but will they change how it works?

Fundamental changes are in store for TikTok after President Donald Trump paved the way for a group of US investors, that includes Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, to take control of the Chinese-based social media giant.

Trump’s deal – which was outlined in an executive order on Thursday (Washington time) but is yet to be signed off on by China – will allow TikTok to continue operating in the US. But the agreement could lead to changes to TikTok’s algorithm, which determines the content individual users see, as well as where their data is stored.

What is Trump doing to TikTok?

Trump’s deal addresses long-held national security concerns about TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance. While the US Congress last year voted to ban the social media app in the country unless it was divested from its Chinese parent, Trump had repeatedly delayed the ban from coming into effect as the US and China worked on hashing out a solution.

The ban had bipartisan support in the US, after years of questions about whether TikTok’s algorithm was being manipulated by Beijing to deliver political messaging or propaganda; and whether users’ data stored in China was safe.

The deal creates a path forward for TikTok to be spun-off from ByteDance and sold to a consortium of US companies, which will include media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan, the boss of Fox Corporation. The US companies will own most of the social media platform, which is valued at about $US14 billion ($21.4 million), with ByteDance to hold a less than 20 per cent stake, according to US Vice President JD Vance.

The new TikTok will be driven by a licensed copy of ByteDance’s existing algorithm. One of TikTok’s new US owners – software company Oracle – will store users’ data and control the algorithm that decides what content is generated.

Will China, Trump or the Murdochs control your ‘for you’ page?

The details of exactly how the algorithm will operate under the reformed TikTok are unclear. The one thing that is clear is that Oracle – co-founded by billionaire Larry Ellison (a big supporter of Trump) – will play a big part in keeping TikTok running. Oracle will host the data of all US users, and it will use that data to retrain a licensed copy of the original TikTok algorithm, which is at the heart of connecting users with videos.

It’s too early to know exactly what retraining the TikTok algorithm would look like, but Tom Sulston, head of policy at Digital Rights Watch, said that, because the social media app is ultimately a profit-driven business, users could expect attention-maximising content with an eye to flogging products, services and trends.

“It’s about clicks, eyeballs, and money,” he said. “I don’t think there’s someone sitting in a control room thinking how do we drum up the capitalism or communism dials, it’s more about how to we drum up the attention dials,” Sulston said.

Trump did mention, when announcing the deal on Thursday, that he would personally like Make America Great Again (MAGA) content to be prioritised on the platform. But he also added that the new TikTok would not be manipulated in that way. “Every group will be treated fairly,” Trump said.

How much power do the Murdochs have on TikTok

It’s difficult to tell how the Murdochs would shape the direction the new TikTok takes, but the deal installs them in a position of influence at a powerful media channel. TikTok has over a billion users globally, with more than 170 million of them in the US and almost 9 million in Australia.

The consortium that will run TikTok is being led by Oracle’s Ellison and, apart from the Murdochs, also includes Michael Dell, chief executive of computer company Dell; investment firm Silver Lake Partners; and United Arab Emirates-owned investment firm MGX. According to Bloomberg, Oracle, Silverlake and MGX could each take a roughly 15 per cent stake.

The US-owned TikTok will be led by a seven-person board of directors, comprising national and cybersecurity experts. The White House has said six of the board members will be Americans. ByteDance will be able to choose one board appointment.

So rather than exercising full control, Rupert and Lachlan would have a seat at the table and a say in how to best use TikTok to potentially aid the Murdoch media empire.

So what will change for TikTok users? Will it be safer?

Sulston believes the overall user experience will remain largely the same, with the algorithm geared to deliver engrossing content because it will still be driven by a user’s individual data and internet history.

“Users were already getting surveilled through the app and followed around the internet so that the algorithm can target content and ads at them. That’s unlikely to change because that’s how social media companies make money”.

As for security, storing the data of US users at home does remove the risk of Chinese authorities accessing sensitive personal information. But it doesn’t deliver real peace of mind for Australian users, because the big US technology platforms also siphon a lot of personal user data.

Sulston pointed to the US-based Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, as an indication of how, despite coming under new ownership and away from China, the app would most likely be driven by commercial, and not political, decisions.

Extreme content will most likely continue to loom large, less as intentional propaganda but more because it gets attention, Sulston said. “Misinformation and hateful content is engaging ... it sucks you in,” he said.

“[The new TikTok] will still be a big company; they’re going to be driven by users, ads and money.”

Will Australians have to use the new US TikTok?

Yes. Reports during earlier stages of the US-China negotiations were that a deal could pave the way for a satellite US-only version TikTok for American users while the rest of the world continues under the existing platform.

However, the new version of TikTok announced by Trump is for the company to remain a single, global platform, transitioning away from Chinese ownership to become controlled by a grouping of US businesses.

What happens from here?

The deal for a new TikTok is not quite done. Chinese officials still have to sign off on the plan.

Additionally, the executive order signed by Trump was largely a structure for a path forward. The specifics of the business deal, to be worked out by the consortium of large US companies and ByteDance, will most likely take some time, before it is formalised, at which point control of the app can begin to be shifted to the US.

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