After months of delays and extended deadlines, it appears a deal that would allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States on a permanent basis is in its final stages.
That’s good. And, well, maybe not so good.
For months, ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, faced an ultimatum: either divest the platform’s American business or be shut down. That’s because of the U.S. government's fears about ByteDance sharing Americans' personal data with the Chinese government — something ByteDance said it would never do.
Since the beginning of his term in January, President Donald Trump has signed several orders delaying the deadline for divestment. On Thursday, however, he signed an executive order readying the platform for sale — moving a step closer to a final deal.
CBS News’ Caitlin Yilek reported, “According to a senior White House official, under the deal, ByteDance's content recommendation algorithm that powers TikTok will be copied and retrained to run solely on the data of its U.S. user base.”
Vice President JD Vance says the U.S.-based version of TikTok will be valued at $14 billion.
And who will take control? CNBC’s David Faber reports that Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi’s MGX will be main investors in TikTok’s U.S. business. CNBC also reported, “Those three entities will control roughly 45% of TikTok USA. ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent, will own 19.9%, with the remaining 35% in the hands of ByteDance investors and new holders.”
Trump is going to take credit, of course, for saving TikTok. It’s something he waffled on during his 2024 presidential campaign. He was stuck in the middle of the millions upon millions of people (especially young people) who wanted TikTok to continue and those who were concerned about security issues. Eventually though, Trump settled on wanting to keep TikTok alive in the U.S.
Aside from being able to say he “saved” TikTok, he has other reasons to see that this deal goes through. Among the potential investors are tech and media giants Larry Ellison, Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, and Michael Dell. Ellison is founder of Oracle. The Murdochs own several media outlets, including Fox News. Dell is the chief executive of Dell Technologies. And all of these people are close with Trump.
The New York Times’ Lauren Hirsch and Emmett Lindner recently wrote, “The potential investments also raise questions about whether the new owners would have the power to influence the tone or content on the app. The Murdochs have run their media businesses with a firm conservative tilt. Mr. Ellison is a supporter of Mr. Trump’s. He and his family are also increasingly interested in media; he helped finance a bid by his son, David, to buy the entertainment giant Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery could be next.”
Trump claims Chinese president Xi Jinping has approved the TikTok deal.
However, CNN media reporter Brian Stelter made a strong point in his “Reliable Sources” newsletter Thursday: “At the risk of repeating myself, China has the final say in this TikTok matter, so Xi Jinping's signature matters more than Trump's in this case. But the US vision for TikTok is clear: The app would be controlled by Trump-aligned businessmen.”
That raised the antennae of many liberals. California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted earlier this week, “This should not be treated lightly. The GOP are buying up platforms to control the news and information you receive. They are censoring you in real time.
After signing the order, Trump was asked if he’d like to see the algorithm suggest more MAGA-related content. He said, “I always like MAGA-related. … If I could make it 100 percent MAGA I would, but it's not gonna work out that way unfortunately. No, everyone is going to be treated fairly. Every group. Every philosophy. Every policy will be treated very fairly.”
However, The Guardian’s Blake Montogomery writes, “The power centralized in the Murdoch and Ellison families would be enormous should the TikTok deal and David Ellison’s purchase of Warner Bros Discovery go through. They would command media outlets that reach both young and old audiences, with high degrees of authority and influence. The only age groups perhaps immune to their sway would be gen X, so suspicious of their parents’ viewing habits, and millennials, just too old for TikTok.”
BREAKING NEWS: Comey indicted
In yet another stunning example of political intimidation, something becoming more common under a president who seeks revenge on his perceived enemies, former FBI director James Comey was indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday on allegations of lying to Congress in 2020.
What was noticeable was how major news outlets framed their stories to show just how outlandish the whole thing appears to be.
The Washington Post wrote the indictment came after “an extraordinary demand from President Donald Trump for the Justice Department to prosecute a man he has long considered a political foe.”
The New York Times was even more pointed. Here’s is what the outlet reported:
The indictment, filed in Alexandria, Va., came over the objection of career prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia who found insufficient evidence to support charges but were overruled by Lindsey Halligan, a former Trump defense lawyer handpicked by Mr. Trump to run the office a few days ago.
It represents the most significant legal step yet by the Trump administration to harry, punish and humiliate a former official the president identified as an enemy, at the expense of procedural safeguards intended to shield the Justice Department from political interference and personal vendettas.
The bare-bones, two-page indictment was signed only by Ms. Halligan, a Trump loyalist who had no previous prosecutorial experience. Typically such filings are also endorsed by career prosecutors who have gathered the evidence in the case.
Trump celebrated on Truth Social, writing, “JUSTICE IN AMERICA” and calling Comey “One of the worst human beings this Country has ever been exposed to.”
Comey says he is innocent and looks forward to a trial, saying, “We will not live on our knees, and you shouldn’t either.”
The Atlantic’s David Frum wrote, “… the charges against Comey are not just about the president’s abuse of his power for personal retribution. They represent a test of the president’s plans for the future.”
We’ll have more on this developing story in the days to come.
Kimmel comeback: night two
ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel had a pretty good response for President Donald Trump after Trump posted on social media that he couldn’t believe ABC gave Kimmel his job back.
On Wednesday night’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” his second show since returning from suspension, Kimmel said, “You can't believe they gave me my job back? I can't believe we gave you your job back.”
On the night Kimmel returned to the air, Trump also turned to social media to threaten a lawsuit against ABC.
Kimmel said Wednesday night, “Only Donald Trump would try to prove he wasn't threatening ABC by threatening ABC. You almost have to feel sorry for the people who work for him, who try to clean up the messes.”
Kimmel added, “There are still a lot of people who think I should be pulled off the air for making fun of Donald Trump, so I want to explain. I talk about Trump, more than anything, because he's a bully. I don't like bullies. I played the clarinet in high school, OK? So I just don't like them. Donald Trump is an old fashioned, '80s movie-style bully, taking your lunch money, and if you give it to him once, he'll take it again. Rooting for this bully, I don't care what side you're on, it's like rooting for Biff from ‘Back to the Future.’ Literally, Donald Trump was the model for Biff in ‘Back to the Future,’ and this is who people are cheering for? I don't know about you. I'm with Marty McFly.”
Still hope for journalism
Last week, I attended a really cool journalism event in Washington D.C. as Poynter honored Axios’ Mike Allen and Jessica Yellin, founder of News Not Noise, with the Poynter 50 Make a Mark Leadership Award.
Allen is the co-founder and editor of Axios and, previously, the co-founder of Politico. Yellin is the former chief White House correspondent for CNN.
With all the depressing news these days and the media often in a state of turmoil, it really was comforting and inspiring to listen to two influential media mavericks talk about their work and where journalism is right now. The dinner and salon featured a conversation between Allen, Yellin and Poynter president Neil Brown.
This week, Poynter published the first of two conversations that Brown had with the two leaders. Here’s the Q&A with Allen. (Yellin’s conversation will be published soon.)
Brown asked Allen, “You are the co-creator of not one, but two journalism enterprises that can safely be called ‘disrupters.’ What were you trying to disrupt with the creation of Politico? What were you trying to disrupt with the creation of Axios?”
Allen said, “Politico was aimed at bringing more speed, voice and expertise to a topic with a passionate, savvy audience. The technology existed, but it wasn’t being maximized. Axios makes you smarter, faster about what matters: With Smart Brevity, we don’t waste your time … and we don’t insult your intelligence. Very few outlets get both the smart and the brevity right.”
Hey. Y’all good?
For this much-needed item, I turn it over to my Poynter colleague Nicole Slaughter Graham.
