The long awaited TikTok deal is almost in effect as both the U.S. and Chinese government have agreed on how American users will receive the app. The proposed deal ensures that the United States will control the app’s algorithm and privacy concerns. 

In a statement made by Karoline Leavitt, the White House Press Secretary, regarding the deal she stated how out of seven board members controlling the company, six will be Americans. For many years, U.S. government officials were concerned about TikTok’s parent company influencing anti-American values and sharing user data with the Chinese government. This current deal is supposed to eliminate all of those issues and promote data security. 

For the approximately 170 million TikTok users in the U.S. who lived through January 18 of this year, a few days prior to President Trump’s inauguration, when the app was no longer accessible to anyone living within the country, this agreement is a relief.

Since then, Trump has pushed back the apps “shut down” deadline until a deal could be agreed upon. If the deal goes through, TikTok users around the U.S. will no longer have to worry about losing the app since it will be in the hands of prominent American investors. Specifically, Oracle, the cloud application company, is among the board of Americans who will manage the safety of the application.  

With this new deal there is the worry that the TikTok experience that everyone is used to will drastically change. The Trump administration assured that, “…all Americans will be able to safely enjoy the same global TikTok experience.” Currently, President Trump and China President Xi Jinping, are set to sign the app deal later this week.