Sen. Ed Markey questions TikTok spin‑off’s national‑security

Four months after TikTok’s U.S. assets were placed in a joint venture to avoid a ban, Sen. Ed Markey says lawmakers still lack enough information to assess whether the arrangement truly mitigates national‑security risks [1].

Key takeaways

• Markey’s letters request contracts and code‑review details from Oracle and TikTok US, citing possible violations of the 2024 law [1].
• The joint venture, half‑owned by Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX, leaves ByteDance with about 30% ownership and 19.9% retained directly [1].
• Critics note ByteDance will still control e‑commerce, advertising and the core recommendation algorithm, raising concerns about Chinese influence [1].
• The venture promises to retrain the algorithm on U.S. data and have Oracle store American user information, but Markey doubts the effectiveness of those safeguards [1].
• The Senate’s inquiry could pressure the venture to disclose more about algorithm licensing, code reviews and data‑protection measures [1].

Structure of the TikTok U.S. joint venture

The spin‑off, finalized on January 1, 2026, created a new entity—TikTok US—run by a consortium that includes Oracle, private‑equity firm Silver Lake and Emirati‑backed MGX. Existing investors linked to ByteDance hold just over 30% of the venture, while ByteDance itself retains a 19.9% stake [1]. CEO Adam Presser, who previously oversaw efforts to secure U.S. user data, leads the venture, and the board includes representatives from the investors as well as TikTok CEO Shou Chew [1].

Under the deal, Oracle is tasked with storing American user data, and the venture says it will “retrain” TikTok’s recommendation algorithm on U.S. user data while moderating content domestically [1]. However, the global TikTok entity owned by ByteDance will continue to manage e‑commerce, advertising and marketing on the U.S. platform, and the joint venture will still license the core algorithm from ByteDance before retraining it [1]. The 2024 law that mandated the spin‑off prohibited any cooperation on the operation of the recommendation algorithm between ByteDance and a new American owner, a restriction Markey argues may not be fully respected [1].

Congressional scrutiny and unanswered questions

In a Friday letter, Markey argues the spin‑off “violated the spirit, if not the letter” of the 2024 law and demands detailed information by June 18, including Oracle’s contract with TikTok US, TikTok US’s licensing agreement with ByteDance, and specifics on how the venture reviews and retrains the algorithm [1]. He questions whether a source‑code review can reliably detect malicious modifications, especially if China were to embed hidden code in an urgent security patch [1]. The joint venture has previously asserted that it operates under “defined safeguards” covering data protection, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurances for U.S. users, but Markey says the venture has not provided sufficient evidence of those measures [1].