Oracle’s role in TikTok’s future is scrutinized by Capitol Hill
The questions were asked as TikTok faces an April 5 deadline set by a federal law which prohibits the app’s distribution in the United States if it isn’t sold to a non Chinese owner. TikTok is owned by the Chinese internet company ByteDance. Its Chinese ties have led to questions about whether it poses a threat to national security in the United States. Oracle was asked to provide assurances that any deal would be compliant with the law. Two people who were present at the meeting confirmed that the meeting was requested by the aides. Staff members from the House Select Committee for the Chinese Communist Party as well as the Speaker’s Office and the House Energy and Commerce Committee attended. In January, President Trump deferred the enforcement of the law which would ban TikTok in the United States. The law passed Congress with bipartisan approval and was upheld by the Supreme Court unanimously. Oracle is a natural candidate to be part of a TikTok deal. The company has been a tech partner of TikTok in the United States and bid for the app when Mr. Trump, during his first term, tried to force a sale from ByteDance. The company is already a tech partner of TikTok in the United States, and it bid for the app when Mr. Trump, in his first term, sought to force a sale from ByteDance.
The White House, not Congress, will ultimately decide whether a deal for TikTok can proceed. Oracle may be interested in the app, but it is not clear. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As the April 5 deadline approaches, Republican lawmakers and other China hawks who supported the law have voiced concerns that TikTok and ByteDance might try to strike a deal with the Trump administration that would maintain Chinese influence over the app and its mighty algorithm.
Lawmakers say a deal that does not meet the requirements of the law will undermine national security and could lead to shareholder lawsuits against the technology companies that distribute and host TikTok in the United States.
“The law is clear: Any deal must eliminate Chinese influence and control over the app to safeguard our interests,” Representative John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who heads the House committee focused on China, wrote in an opinion column on Tuesday in The National Review. He said he was “committed to ensuring that any deal with TikTok meets the clear statutory requirements laid out by Congress.”
Mr. Vance told NBC News last week that by April 5 “there will almost certainly be a high-level agreement that I think satisfies our national security concerns, allows there to be a distinct American TikTok enterprise.”
Mr. Trump said this month that while he was optimistic that TikTok would strike a deal before the deadline, he was open to extending the deadline.
Larry Ellison, Oracle’s co-founder and chief technology officer, joined Mr. Trump for an announcement in January about a $100 billion artificial intelligence initiative. At the event, Trump said that Elon Musk and Oracle could buy TikTok. He also stressed his “right to negotiate a deal.” Trump’s pause on enforcing law has raised concerns about whether he is following the rule of law, or if he is stretching the limits of executive power. Some experts have said the conflict represents the beginnings of a constitutional crisis.
TikTok has argued for at least a year that a sale of the company would be impossible, in part because the Chinese government would not allow the export of TikTok’s all-important algorithm.
