*
Trump administration working on plan to tap Oracle, US
investors
to take over TikTok, NPR says
*
Under reported deal, TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance will
have
minority stake
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NPR says terms of deal could change
(Adds background on TikTok-related law in US)
By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, Jan 25 (Reuters) - The administration of
U.S. President Donald Trump is working on a plan to save TikTok
that involves tapping software company Oracle and a
group of outside investors to effectively take control of the
app's global operations, National Public Radio reported on
Saturday.
Under the deal being negotiated by the White House, TikTok's
China-based owner, ByteDance, would retain a minority stake in
the company, but the app's algorithm, data collection and
software updates would be overseen by Oracle, which already
provides the foundation of TikTok's Web infrastructure, NPR
reported.
The NPR report cited two people with knowledge of the talks.
The White House and Oracle had no immediate comment.
The short video app used by 170 million Americans was taken
offline temporarily for users shortly before a law that said it
must be sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance on national security
grounds, or be banned, took effect on Jan. 19.
Trump, after taking office a day later,
signed
an executive order seeking to delay by 75 days the
enforcement of the law that was put in place after U.S.
officials warned that under ByteDance, there was a risk of
Americans' data being misused.
The possible deal reported by NPR would mean that American
investors would own a majority stake in TikTok. However, the
report added that the terms of the deal could change and are
still being hammered out.
"The goal is for Oracle to effectively monitor and provide
oversight with what is going on with TikTok," a person directly
involved in the talks but not authorized to speak publicly was
quoted as saying by NPR.
"ByteDance wouldn't completely go away, but it would
minimize Chinese ownership."
Other potential investors who are engaged in the talks
include Microsoft ( MSFT ), NPR reported.
Officials from Oracle and the White House held a meeting on
Friday about a potential deal, and another meeting has been
scheduled for next week, NPR reported.
Oracle was interested in a TikTok stake "in the tens of
billions," but the rest of the deal is in flux, the NPR report
cited the source as saying.
Trump has said he "would like the United States to have a
50% ownership position in a joint venture" in TikTok.
NPR cited another source as saying that appeasing Congress
is seen as a key hurdle by the White House.
Free speech advocates
have opposed
TikTok's ban under a law passed by the U.S. Congress and
signed by former President Joe Biden.
The company says U.S. officials misstated its ties to
China, arguing its content recommendation engine and user data
are stored in the United States on cloud servers operated by
Oracle while content moderation decisions that affect American
users are also made in the U.S.