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ANALYSIS: Will the US deal make TikTok safer, but less attractive?

2025-12-19 22:01:53Lifestyle SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
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TikTok, the popular short-video platform owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, has signed an agreement with investors to manage its activity in the United States.

But what does this mean for over 170 million American users, as the platform itself claims?

The key to the changes could be how the recommendation algorithm, the powerful system that builds the “For You” page and predicts what content each user is most likely to view, will be managed.

Social media industry expert Matt Navarra told the BBC that the question is not whether TikTok will survive, but "which version of TikTok will survive."

“Smoothing the edges”

TikTok's system currently relies on massive amounts of global data and feedback loops that can change recommendations almost instantly. Under the terms of the deal, TikTok's algorithm, which will be licensed by investor Oracle, is expected to be retrained on data from US users.

Navarra warns that this could make the app feel “more secure and stable,” but at the same time risks making it “less culturally essential.”

“TikTok’s power has always come from the feeling that it’s a little out of control – weird, sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes politically astute, before that content has appeared elsewhere,” he said.

“If you start to soften these edges, it doesn't just change moderation. It changes the very relevance of the platform.”

Will the algorithm match that of ByteDance?

Whether the US version will be different from the TikTok used by the rest of the world may also depend on whether it will simultaneously receive "all the new features, security updates and platform improvements," technology journalist Will Guyatt told the BBC.

Meanwhile, computer science expert Kokil Jaidka from the National University of Singapore estimates that the elements that have made TikTok popular, such as short videos and online shopping, are likely to remain unchanged, as they do not directly depend on the algorithm.

However, according to her, the changes may be more subtle and gradual, if the American version, "isolated" from global data, fails to have the same scope and dynamism.

“If TikTok operates with a licensed or partially weakened algorithm, some of the system’s blind spots may start to be felt more,” she said.

"In practice, this means that the American algorithm may be delayed in personalization and take longer to adapt to viral content."

To experiment or to behave “properly”?

Oracle is TikTok's longtime partner for cloud services in the U.S. and is led by Larry Ellison, an ally of President Donald Trump. Another foreign investor, Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund MGX, will join the deal, along with private equity fund Silver Lake.

According to Navarra, pressure from these investors could make the American app feel more "pale" and less bold.

“The real test won’t be whether users will leave,” he said.

“But whether TikTok will continue to feel like the place the internet goes to experiment – ??or whether it will return to being the place it goes to behave properly.”


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