Trump Vice President Vance:

What the future holds for TikTok in the USA

US President Donald Trump granted a sales grace period of 75 days, which expires on April 5.

(Bild: DENIS CHARLET)

US Vice President J.D. Vance assumes that a fundamental solution for the future of the video app Tiktok in the US will be found by the beginning of April. There will "almost certainly" be an agreement that resolves the security concerns and paves the way for a US Tiktok company, Vance told TV station NBC.

According to US law, Tiktok should have been sold by China-based owner Bytedance by January 19 - or shut down in the US. However, US President Donald Trump granted a grace period of 75 days, which expires on April 5. He also held out the prospect of extending the deadline - although there is no basis for this in the law.

Fear of espionage in the USA
In the USA, there are warnings that the Chinese government could use Tiktok to collect information about American users and influence public opinion. Tiktok rejects this.

Vance was commissioned by Trump to oversee the search for a solution for Tiktok. Neither Bytedance nor Tiktok have publicly expressed a willingness to part ways. Trump insists that the service must come under American control. In the meantime, he had said that "the USA" should get a 50 percent share.

Green light needed from Beijing
Trump had conceded that a deal on Tiktok would "probably" require China's approval. However, he believes that Beijing will be interested in it "because it is also to their advantage". The Chinese government has banned the sale of algorithms such as Tiktok's abroad without its approval. The software decides which videos are shown and is therefore the cornerstone of the platform.

The website "The Information" reported this week that the American software company Oracle is the most promising contender to be part of a deal from the US side. The management of Bytedance and Trump are in favor of this, according to sources involved. At the same time, Bytedance wants to remain involved in the operation of Tiktok.

New chance for "Project Texas"?
The Chinese owner therefore hopes that Trump will accept the "Project Texas" plan, which has been pushed for years, in which information from US users is stored in the USA and Oracle monitors data flows and software updates. This was not secure enough for Trump's predecessor's administration. Tiktok has a similar plan for Europe called "Project Clover" for data storage in Ireland.

Trump wanted to bring Tiktok under US control in his first term of office by threatening to ban it, but was stopped by US courts. The law provides a legal basis for Tiktok's demise in the US - but Trump now points out that the app contributed to his election victory and wants to keep it.