Tech Giant Oracle's plan to save Tiktok hits a horrifying obstacle: US Senator Tom Cotton.
The Arkansas conservative heavyweight has revealed he is opposed to Team Trump, saying that he will oppose a bipartisan US law that calls for Tiktok to be sold entirely from China's control and ownership, according to three people with first-hand knowledge of the issue.
Cotton has not made public comments on the current state of debate in order to save Tiktok from the sale or ban ordered by Congress. However, sources nearby him have told the post that he was recently asked about the status of consultations and had a conversation with the White House about the issue.
Cotton's potential opposition could resolve the highly debated Tiktok-Oracle transaction to accommodate user data from the popular short video apps of Oracle servers. For now, Tiktok's China-based parent company, Baitedan, still owns the algorithm. Oracle and Tiktok executives claim that Argo is not the Chinese who controls it, but the US tech giant.
But skepticism remains in key lawmakers like Cotton and others. With this pushback, White House officials weighed other remedies to prevent apps from being banned in the US, these people say.
President Trump has ironically called for a ban on spying on concerns in his first term, but has recently had a soft spot on the app. He believes that Tiktok helped win the 2024 presidential election.
Once in office, he issued an executive order that gave him 75 days off the law, allowing Tiktok to find a trading partner before the ban came into effect. The ban halt ends on April 5th, and it is unclear whether Trump will issue another executive order until he is able to make the transaction.
Trump has long argued that Oracle, co-founded by his close friend, Larry Ellison, the Silicon Valley billionaire, should be at the heart of any deal Tiktok is involved.
Of course, one of the problems creating a transaction is signing off from the Chinese government. The Chinese government plays a major role in the operation of Chinese companies that have stocks that are publicly available in the US. People close to negotiations say Trump may have to negotiate directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping to make it happen. Beijing has made clear so far in negotiations that he is reluctant to let go of Tiktok's algorithm.
As originally reported on March 7th, transactions on the table include some sort of “licensing agreement” between Oracle and Bytedance, people familiar with the issue said. This includes taking control of Tiktok's US business and storing and protecting user data. Critics still own the algorithm, critics argue that the Chinese Communist Party can use user data for spy purposes, at least in theory, in control of products.
Critics say the deal appears to lie outside the constraints of the law known as the No Tiktok Act of Government Equipment, signed by President Biden in 2022 and after a long court battle, endorsed by the Supreme Court before Trump took office.
Now, White House aides are debating whether Tiktok deserves a brutal fight to save Chinese people if they don't want to abandon full control, people who know first-hand about the issue say.
“I know Trump likes the app. I think he helped him win in November, but it's one conversation they have at the White House because everything else is on his plate,” said one person involved in the negotiations.
Cotton spokesman did not have any comments. Someone near him talks about money.
A White House spokesman didn't immediately have comment. A Tiktok spokesman did not have any comments. An Oracle spokesman did not immediately comment.
In the gust of discussion, Cotton revealed one thing, these people say: He said, “I want a deal to contract with Congressional laws that prevent the establishment or maintenance of business relations controlled by previous entities of affiliations and foreign enemies.
Oracle and the White House can argue that by keeping the algorithm in the cloud, with an additional safeguard, that the Chinese no longer “control” it.
Cotton, a Republican on the Senate Intelligence Email Committee, is said to be skeptical of this approach and is hoping to create a unique algorithm for the new owner of the company or buy an existing owner from China.
He has long been a critic of Tiktok and raises national security concerns that the Communist Chinese government, which controls China, can access user data for the purposes of Spycraft. Another concern is that a very important algorithm pushes anti-AS propaganda to 170 million US users, primarily composed of children and young adults.
However, from the early days when China's Tiktok sale was spoken five years ago, Chinese government officials have revealed that they don't want to let go of Tiktok's so-called secret source, an algorithm that enhances user engagement by providing videos to users based on various metrics.
Since then, Tiktok has moved US user data to be stored in Oracle Cloud. This is known as “Project Texas.” He hired a lobbyist to make the case to Congress that he would not siphon user data for spying.
The new licensing agreement probably includes additional safeguards to prevent Chinese backdoor attempts, but many GOP lawmakers and cotton-like Chinese Hawks still need to sway. Another issue: potential liability for transactions that do not meet the strict standards of laws, including Chinese management or ownership of algorithms.
Those with knowledge of Oracle-White House Discussion say anything that is beyond what the law provides for clean breaks from China could be subject to lawsuits from the Democratic state attorney general.
