Donald Trump Tells ‘Young People of TikTok’: You Owe Me Big

In a video posted to TikTok Monday morning, President Donald Trump said that young Americans who use TikTok “owe” him following the announcement and signing of a new executive order that allows the popular video-sharing platform to continue operating in the United States under restructured ownership.

“To all of those young people of TikTok, I saved TikTok, so you owe me big,” Trump said in the video. “And now you’re looking at me in the Oval Office, and someday one of you are going to be sitting right at this desk and you’re going to be doing a great job.”
The announcement came after lengthy negotiations between U.S. and Chinese officials, facilitated by a bipartisan mandate passed by Congress during former President Joe Biden’s term that required TikTok’s China-based parent, ByteDance, to divest its American assets to avoid a nationwide ban.
TikTok, with an estimated 170 million users in the United States—many of them young people—has served as a major platform for social interaction, entertainment, and information exchange. Its future has been the subject of national debate since concerns over national security, data privacy, and foreign influence triggered lawmaker intervention in recent years.
The Trump administration’s latest agreement concluded a multiyear standoff over the Chinese-owned app’s operations and data safeguards in the United States.
The conditions of TikTok’s continued operation reflect the broader context of U.S.-China tech competition and data governance policies, showing the growing effort by Washington to assert oversight on foreign-owned tech platforms. The deal is significant for U.S. technology policy, digital rights, and the role of social media in American youth culture and political dynamics.

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President Trump signed an executive order on September 25, permitting TikTok to continue its operations in the United States, provided that its U.S. assets are transferred to a consortium of American investors.
Prominent among these are Oracle and Silver Lake Partners, while ByteDance will retain a limited, non-security-related stake. The agreement was developed against the backdrop of bipartisan legislation, championed by both former President Biden and President Trump, requiring TikTok’s U.S. operations to be under American ownership to address data security concerns.
The U.S. portion of TikTok will now control the platform’s influential recommendation algorithm using only domestic data. Oracle is expected to supervise these technical operations, limiting ByteDance’s role to nonsecurity activities, in line with U.S. national security stipulations.
The arrangement is expected to assure Americans that TikTok cannot be used for foreign manipulation and to address longstanding concerns about privacy. Analysts suggest that the case could set precedents for similar scrutiny of other foreign-owned tech services.
The deal followed several rounds of technical and diplomatic negotiations involving senior U.S. officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Talks with their Chinese counterparts took place in Spain.
TikTok’s extensive American user base, particularly among users under 30, has emerged as a significant constituency in recent elections.
President Trump has publicly credited TikTok users for increased turnout among younger voters in the 2024 presidential election—a segment that supported the Republican ticket in higher numbers than in recent years.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News in September: “President Trump was ahead of the curve on this he recognized the need to protect Americans privacy and data while also keeping this app open.”
ByteDance said in a public statement issued in September: “We thank President Xi Jinping and President Donald J. Trump for their efforts to preserve TikTok in the United States. ByteDance will work in accordance with applicable laws to ensure TikTok remains available to American users through TikTok U.S.”
The parties involved now face the process of finalizing the legal and operational details of TikTok’s new U.S. ownership structure.
Vice President JD Vance indicated that more information on the deal would be forthcoming, with full implementation expected after further discussions between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in September.
Market regulators and civil rights advocates continue to monitor how changes will impact TikTok’s policies, user data privacy, and content moderation going forward.
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