TikTok’s sale to the United States has been a real rollercoaster. With the constant fear of it disappearing, the repeated extensions of the deadline, and the back-and-forth of negotiations, it’s only today that we know TikTok has already signed agreements to reorganise itself in the United States and, with that, a concrete roadmap to keep operating there. We now have, as reported by Axios, a new corporate structure, a new ownership split and, above all, a target date: 22 January 2026.
The when: the date circled in red is 22 January 2026
The timetable that has been put on the table fits with the legal framework that has been pushing ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to carry out a “qualified” divestment for the US market. This legislation was passed in 2024 as part of Public Law 118–50, and since then it has fuelled the political and business standoff around TikTok that we’ve been watching.
Here it’s worth focusing on the most recent stretch: the White House kept extending deadlines throughout 2025, and the last expiry date mentioned for that cycle came on 16 December 2025, a turning point that accelerated the closing of the deal and has left 22 January 2026 as the effective date for the new system.
The how: a “joint venture” with a US majority and a new board
The new TikTok revolves around TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, designed to take on certain responsibilities within the US and to operate as an independent entity. The structure, as published, looks like this: 50% for a consortium of new investors, 30.1% for affiliates of certain current ByteDance investors, and 19.9% that remains with ByteDance.
Within that 50% there’s an important nuance: Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX are each listed with 15% (45% combined), and the remainder completes the bloc of new investors that secures the controlling majority. Alongside this new company comes a seven-member board of directors, with a US majority, which is the other control mechanism, together with the audit and compliance commitments.
What changes for those of us who use the app: data, the algorithm and moderation under USDS control
If we look at the changes from our perspective as users, the new TikTok centres on four areas: data protection, algorithm security, content moderation, and ensuring the integrity and rollout of the software. The goal is for the US side to have its own authority to certify that content, software and user data meet the agreed terms.
There is one especially sensitive point here: the recommendation algorithm. The text that has circulated talks about “retraining” it using US user data so that the feed is free of external manipulation. It remains to be seen how this will affect the recommendation mechanism, one of TikTok’s strongest features and one of the main reasons for its success.
For those of us who watch videos, upload content or advertise, all the communication around the agreement insists on continuity of the experience and commercial stability. What we’ll have to see is how the retraining of the algorithm affects the recommendation system. In any case, we’ll know on 22 January.
