US President Donald Trump made a dramatic return to TikTok, posting his first video on the platform in years.
Speaking to his 15 million followers from the Resolute Desk, Trump declared, “To all of those young people of TikTok, I saved TikTok, so you owe me big.”
He added optimistically that someday, “one of you is going to be sitting right at this desk — and you’re going to be doing a great job also.”
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US-China Ownership Deal
Trump’s video comes after a major agreement that ensures TikTok can continue operating in the United States under new, predominantly American ownership.
Under the deal, a consortium of US investors will acquire roughly 80% of TikTok’s US operations, with Oracle overseeing data security and algorithm management.
The Chinese parent company, ByteDance, will retain a stake of 20% or less and only one board seat, which will not be part of any national security committees.
The move ends months of uncertainty over TikTok’s future in the United States.
Earlier, legislation under President Joe Biden had required ByteDance to sell its US operations or face a ban. During Trump’s administration, the company’s operating deadlines were extended multiple times before the current deal was finalised.
TikTok Popularity In The US
TikTok has grown into a powerful platform with 170 million US users, influencing young voters and playing a key role in political campaigns.
Trump himself had leveraged his TikTok account to engage younger audiences during his re-election campaign.
Following Trump, Vice President JD Vance also relaunched his TikTok page, promising “political updates and a few sombrero memes.”
TikTok’s journey to US success has been both rapid and controversial. Founded by Zhang Yiming in Beijing in 2012, ByteDance launched Douyin in China in 2016 and TikTok internationally in 2017 after acquiring Musical.ly.
The app quickly became popular, surpassing 1 billion downloads globally by 2019 and 2 billion by 2020.
However, TikTok has faced scrutiny over data privacy, child protection, and national security concerns in several countries, including India, the European Union, and the United States.
In 2020, the Trump administration took a hard stance against TikTok, issuing executive orders to ban transactions with ByteDance and demanding the company sell its US operations.
TikTok fought these orders in court, receiving extensions as negotiations continued. Meanwhile, multiple countries, including India, Canada, and EU member states, restricted or banned the app on government devices over security fears.
The US-China negotiations reached a framework agreement in September 2025, allowing TikTok to continue operations under US control while preserving a minority stake for ByteDance.
The deal represents a compromise between national security concerns and the platform’s massive popularity in America.
