U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about his memorandum on the implementation of the death penalty in Washington D.C, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 25, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Donald Trump on Thursday afternoon signed an executive order declaring that the agreement to reduce China’s stake in TikTok to the level mandated by Congress now satisfies congressional requirements — months after the deadline lawmakers had set. The agreement is reportedly a framework that could still face legal and congressional challenges.
The deal will allow TikTok, one of the most popular social media apps in the world, which serves 170 million Americans, to continue to operate in the U.S.
“Much is still unknown about the actual arrangement, but Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping ‘gave us the go-ahead’ to proceed with the deal. Any major change to the popular video platform could have a huge impact on how Americans — particularly young adults and teenagers — consume information online,” according to the Associated Press. “About 43% of U.S. adults under the age of 30 say they regularly get news from TikTok, higher than any other social media app including YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, according to a Pew Research Center report published Thursday.”
READ MORE: ‘All Caused by Democrats’: Trump Defends Mass Federal Layoffs in Shutdown Plan
The Washington Post reported that the deal “would create an American version of the popular video app owned by some of the president’s wealthiest supporters.”
“Under the proposed deal, some of the new TikTok U.S. will be owned by corporate interests linked to men known for their longtime support of Trump and the Republican Party, such as Jeff Yass, a co-founder of Susquehanna International Group, and Larry Ellison, a co-founder of Oracle, according to two people familiar with the deal who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal negotiations.”
The President was asked if he has plans to make TikTok “MAGA,” or Make America Great Again, his political slogan and ideology.
“Now that Americans will have operational control” over TikTok, a reporter asked, “do you want to see the algorithm suggest more MAGA related content prioritized?”
“I always like MAGA-related,” Trump said jovially. “If I could, I’d make it 100 percent MAGA-related.”
READ MORE: ‘Extraordinary’: Pentagon’s ‘Urgent’ Summons of Hundreds of Top Brass to US Sparks Concern
“It’s actually a good question, but I would, yeah, if I could make it 100 percent MAGA, I would, but it’s not gonna work out that way, unfortunately,” he said.
“No, everyone’s gonna be treated fairly. Every group, every, every philosophy, every policy will be treated very fairly.”
READ MORE: ‘Ridiculous and Weak’: Trump’s ‘Triple Sabotage’ Mocked as Fox Hypes Escalatorgate