• Americans will gain control of six out of seven seats on the board governing TikTok’s U.S. operations, a major concession to U.S. national security concerns.
  • The move, part of an ongoing deal, is designed to allow the platform to continue its substantial U.S. operations, which support nearly 5 million jobs.
  • The governance overhaul aims to address data security risks without forcing an outright sale or ban, a significant shift in the long-running standoff.

A proposed deal for TikTok’s U.S. operations will grant Americans six out of seven seats on its governing board, according to a report citing White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. This structural overhaul represents a pivotal step toward alleviating longstanding U.S. government fears over data security and potential foreign influence, effectively creating a U.S.-controlled entity without a full divestiture from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

The new governance framework is seen as a critical compromise to avoid a ban of the platform, which an Oxford Economics report found contributed over $24 billion to U.S. GDP from small and mid-sized business activity alone. With over 7.5 million U.S. businesses relying on the platform, the economic stakes of a shutdown were deemed prohibitively high. Efforts to reach TikTok and the White House for additional comment were not immediately successful.

This development follows years of escalating scrutiny from U.S. regulators and lawmakers, who have debated everything from a forced sale to an outright ban. The board’s new composition is likely intended to provide the oversight necessary to ensure user data is walled off from foreign access, a core demand of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). While the specific powers of this newly configured board are not yet fully detailed, its American majority is a clear move to placate security officials.

The deal, if finalized, would mark a significant de-escalation in one of the most high-profile tech standoffs between the U.S. and China. It allows TikTok to maintain its vast U.S. user base and advertising business while submitting to a level of control that lawmakers have long argued is essential. For the millions of creators and businesses that depend on the platform, the news will be welcomed as a sign of operational continuity, even under a dramatically new corporate structure.