AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
There might be a deal to save TikTok. On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order instructing his administration to not enforce a ban on TikTok. The order grants a 75-day reprieve from a law that requires TikTok to split off from its Chinese owner or be banned nationwide. Sources close to talks in the White House tell NPR that software company Oracle, Microsoft and other American investors are working to take over the video app. NPR's Bobby Allyn broke the story and joins us now. Hi, Bobby.
BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE: Hey, Ayesha.
RASCOE: OK. So TikTok had a wild ride last year. It was - I mean, not last year, last weekend. It was banned. It wasn't banned. You know, it wasn't clear exactly what President Trump was proposing to save the app. So here we are now. Tell us about this potential deal to save TikTok.
ALLYN: Sure, yeah. I talked to two people directly involved with the White House's discussions about TikTok. They weren't allowed to speak publicly about the confidential talks, but they said software company Oracle is proposing to put up tens of billions of dollars. Microsoft is also interested in being part of this deal and other American investors. In all, the deal would have American tech companies take majority control of TikTok's global operation. And ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese owner, would have a minority stake. Importantly, though, this deal would take control away from ByteDance when it comes to TikTok's data, algorithm and software updates.
RASCOE: But it sounds like this deal, though, isn't finalized. Even though this deal isn't finalized, would this current proposal be compliant with the TikTok ban law?
ALLYN: Yeah, White House negotiators do believe so. Remember, the TikTok law forces the app to have what's called qualified divestiture from ByteDance. And that's just a technical way of saying ByteDance or the Chinese government can't have any control and can't have any backdoors into Americans' data. People close to these talks are hopeful this will satisfy Congress. But lawmakers of both parties, you know, feel very strongly about Beijing-based ByteDance being completely walled off from TikTok, and it is a tricky proposition. I talked to Sarah Kreps. She focuses on technology and foreign policy at the Brookings Institution.
SARAH KREPS: How would you prove a negative? How would you prove the absence of Chinese control of the data and the algorithm? You can audit millions of lines of code, but it's really hard to show one way or another.
ALLYN: Yeah, and so really important to underscore here, Ayesha, that in order for this deal to pass muster with Congress, showing that China has no operational control is just really going to be key here.
RASCOE: And what more can you say about Oracle now that the company might soon own a major piece of TikTok?
ALLYN: Yeah, Oracle is a Austin-based software company. Its founder and chairman, Larry Ellison, is a billionaire tech mogul. He's a Republican mega donor and a huge supporter of President Trump. In Trump's first term, he tried to - Trump tried to ban TikTok. The courts blocked it. And back then, Trump tapped Oracle to try to buy it. It didn't work out. So maybe second time's the charm. We'll see.
But Ellison, you know, appeared recently next to Trump at a press conference in the Oval Office. So, you know, critics are saying it does appear as if Trump is here giving preference to a close ally. Now, I reached out to Oracle, Microsoft and the White House for comment and have not heard back from anyone.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Bobby Allyn. Thank you, Bobby.
ALLYN: Thanks. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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