TikTok has at last finalized a deal to keep the popular video sharing platform operating in the U.S. after years of uncertainty, but questions remain about whether users’ experience will change and whether the changes actually address security concerns around the app.

Here’s what to know about the deal, which created a new TikTok U.S. joint venture after social video platform company signed agreements with major investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment firm MGX.

Why was the deal needed?

After wide bipartisan majorities in Congress passed — and President Joe Biden signed — a law that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if it did not find a new owner in the place of China’s ByteDance, the platform was set to go dark on the law’s January 2025 deadline. For several hours, it did. But on his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep it running while his administration sought an agreement for the sale of the company. A string of orders continued to extend the deadline until this deal was reached.

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We don’t know how the TikTok experience will change, but there’s no new app

American TikTok users can continue using the same app, according to TikTok. But exactly what American users will see on their TikTok feeds once the changeover happens remains unclear.

The algorithm — the secret sauce that powers its addictive video feed — powering the U.S. backend will be licensed from ByteDance and then retrained on U.S. user data. The act of retraining the content recommendation formula is certain to at least have subtle changes to a user’s personalized feeds.

Any noticeable changes made to a social media platform’s service raises the risk of alienating its audience, said Jasmine Enberg, an analyst for the research firm eMarketer.

TikTok’s press release claims U.S. creators will still be discoverable in other regions worldwide, and businesses will be able to maintain global reach. But how interoperability between the U.S. and ByteDance to maintain a global TikTok experience is currently unknown.

The retrained algorithm means that the trends — “and what dominates feeds — will feel distinctly American,” said Forrester analyst Kelsey Chickering.

“Global content will still appear, but its ranking will change,” she said. “This matters because the algorithm is the heartbeat of the app’s addictive experience. The question becomes: Will a U.S.-centric feed supercharge engagement, or will it chip away at TikTok’s cultural cachet?”

What is known, however, is that there is an updated Terms of Service.

One of the updates notes that while users retain ownership of their content, TikTok is able to use that content to operate or improve the platform, subject to settings.

Americans under the age of 13 will be limited to an “Under 13 Experience.”

And users are also responsible for any posted AI-generated content and must label it as created by artificial intelligence.

TikTok’s new owners have ties to Trump

Although he no longer runs Oracle as its CEO, company co-founder Larry Ellison remains a top executive while also overseeing an estimated personal fortune of $225 billion. Ellison, 81, now could be in line to become a behind-the-scenes power player in the media, having already helped finance Skydance’s recently completed $8 billion merger with Paramount, a deal engineered by his son, David. Ellison’s relationship with the Trump administration dates back to the president’s first term, where he played a role in the administration’s efforts to get ByteDance to sell TikTok.

These ties have raised concerns among some users around content moderation and what videos American users will see on their feeds.

“If moderation happens to tilt toward one political viewpoint or fails to curb misinformation, TikTok risks a user exodus to rival platforms,” Chickering said. “We’ve seen this before when Twitter’s transformation into X triggered fallout from users and advertisers.”

Vice President JD Vance, who was tasked with helping lead the White House’s efforts to find a U.S. buyer for TikTok, was involved in negotiating meetings along with way, as was Trump, according to a person familiar with the meetings who was not authorized to speak publicly.

In September, when U.S. officials including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, met in Madrid with Chinese officials, Vance and Trump joined some of the negotiating meetings by phone and they pressured China to agree a deal by the end of the trip, which they did, according to the official.

That led to Trump’s September executive order that allowed TikTok to continue operating in the U.S.

The deal does not completely address security concerns in the law

Lawmakers previously expressed concern that the Chinese government could use TikTok’s algorithm to push propaganda or gather data on individual users, a key reason Congress passed legislation in 2024 requiring the company’s divestment from Beijing-based owner ByteDance.

The law prohibits “any cooperation with respect to the operation of a content recommendation algorithm” between ByteDance and a new potential American ownership group, so it is unclear how ByteDance’s continued involvement in this arrangement — especially since they will license the algorithm to the U.S. entity — will play out.

How are users and creators reacting?

Skip Chapman, co-owner of KAFX Body in Manasquan, New Jersey, which makes and sells natural deodorants, launched his business in April 2023 on TikTok when TikTok shop was still in beta testing. He said he’s mainly glad he can stop worrying about the potential of a TikTok ban, the threat of which has been looming over his business for over a year. He sells his products on his own website and Amazon, but 80% of sales still come from the TikTok shop and it is the primary way he reaches new customers.

He said he is cautiously optimistic the deal will be good for TikTok and his shop, but he is a little concerned that the new owners might de-prioritize the e-commerce aspect of TikTok.

“The past two years, TikTok has really leaned into this live social commerce and just the ability to sell on the platform and they’ve kind of prioritized it and I’m hoping that the new owners continue to prioritize it and even more so add more features, more benefits, more opportunities for my business,” he said.

Vanessa Barreat owns La Vecindad Mexican restaurant in Las Vegas, and she has TikTok page for the restaurant that has over 100,000 followers. Visibility on the site has helped her attract customers, particularly out-of-towners, and spend less on marketing.

She said she’s in a “wait-and-see mindset” about the deal.

“Anytime there’s a major shift or deal, there’s uncertainty, but I’m not operating from fear,” she said. “TikTok has empowered so many voices that historically didn’t have access to platforms like this, and that impact doesn’t disappear overnight.”

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AP Business Writer Mae Anderson in Nashville, Tennessee and Michelle Price in Washington contributed to this story.

The U.S., Russia and Ukraine are meeting in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), to discuss one of the major sticking points stopping a deal to end the nearly four-year war: territorial disputes. The talks in Abu Dhabi are the first trilateral talks since 2022.

The trilateral sit-down comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s meeting with Trump in Davos and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Witkoff and Kushner traveled to the UAE for the talks after their meeting with Putin in Moscow on Thursday.

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Zelenskyy and Putin are under increasing pressure to reach a peace deal as the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s invasion approaches and President Donald Trump pushes to end the war.

While Russia has demanded Ukraine cede the Donbas, Zelenskyy has stood firm in his opposition to making land concessions, though the discussions in Abu Dhabi suggest that he could be ready to negotiate. Putin is demanding Ukraine surrender the 20% it holds of the Donetsk region of the Donbas, according to Reuters.

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“The question of Donbas is key. It will be discussed how the three sides… see this in Abu Dhabi today and tomorrow,” Zelenskyy told reporters via WhatsApp, according to Reuters. The outlet added that an aide for Zelenskyy said the talks are expected to continue Saturday.

The envoys are meeting as Ukrainians face below-freezing temperatures after Russian strikes damaged the country’s power supply.

Maxim Timchenko, the head of Ukraine’s top private power producer, told Reuters that the situation was nearing a “humanitarian catastrophe.”

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While speaking with reporters on Air Force One, Trump was asked if the trilateral meeting could lead to one with himself, Putin and Zelenskyy. He would not commit but said that “any time we meet, it’s good.” He also expressed doubts about whether Putin wanted to take over all of Ukraine.

“What’s happened here is there were times when Putin didn’t want to make a deal, times when Zelensky didn’t want to make a deal, and it was opposite times. Now, I think they both want to make a deal. We’ll find out,” Trump said.

The president also acknowledged that the topics of the discussions that were happening had been debated for months.

Europe must electrify “everything” in the coming years, Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said during a Euronews panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, sharing a vision of a continent powered by clean power rather than fossil fuels.

“When we look at energy security in Europe, and Europe’s goals, such as reaching our climate goals, but also at the same time being affordable, I see one future for Europe,” Birol said. “Electrify everything, as much as you can, electrify everything. Transportation, industry and so on.”

The IEA chief suggested a two-fold strategy to this end. The first is to massively invest in grid infrastructure, and the second is to lower energy prices.

“One is grids, grids, grids,” Birol said, emphasising the importance of revamping the power grids in Europe.

He noted that there are significant bottlenecks, as permits remain difficult to obtain, undermining the development of the vast, interconnected networks that deliver power to homes, businesses, and factories. Birol called this “the main barrier to the electrification of the European economy”.

“I will give one shocking number. Last year in Europe, we installed a record 80 gigawatts of renewable capacity. More than 400 gigawatts of renewable capacity were ready. But we couldn’t connect it to the grid. And it didn’t go to the households or the factories. This is completely crazy. Economically, it doesn’t make sense at all.”

Birol compared this push for green energy to developing the necessary infrastructure to build a fancy, efficient car, while forgetting to build roads.

Grid failures were also tied to the Iberian Peninsula blackout that left 60 million people without power in April 2025.

EU ‘Grids Package’

The ageing European grid was highlighted in a study by energy think tank Ember published this week, which found that the EU doesn’t have an issue generating green power — wind and solar generated more EU electricity than fossil fuels for the first time in 2025 — but that its “outdated” grid means it has a problem moving that power around.

In light of these issues, the European Commission unveiled a “Grids Package” at the end of last year to revamp the bloc’s obsolete electricity grid to increase electricity transmission across the EU27.

This move was lauded by Birol, who said he hoped this package would see the light of day, as this could “unblock many of the problems” faced by Europe.

Kıvanç Zaimler, CEO of Sabancı Holding, a leading Turkish investment holding company, who joined the panel, echoed that grid investment is “a must” but stated this must be an in-depth transformation using another car-themed analogy.

“We also have to think about efficiency through digitalisation. It’s like managing (road) traffic. You not only need additional roads, but you also need to solve traffic problems with navigation systems,” he said.

Tackling high energy costs

Another key issue in Europe, Birol said, is the high cost of electricity, which represents a major challenge for the competitiveness of European industry.

“Electricity prices in Europe are very high compared to, I don’t know, the competitors such as the US, such as China. They are three to four times higher here than in those countries,” he told Euronews.

Romanian Energy Minister Bogdan Ivan said the solution to high energy prices was to double energy resources in Europe.

“We (in Romania) are paying (among) the highest energy prices adjusted for people’s income,” Bogdan said.

He said this should be done by diversifying resources. “I want to use EU resources to finance nuclear power,” Ivan said. “That’s one of the best ways to bring cheap and baseline energy.” He argued that if the EU put too much emphasis on investing solely in wind and solar, it would “definitely have an issue”.

EU energy ministers have pledged to level energy prices across member states and prevent discrepancies between countries during their last official meeting in December.

Sweden’s Vattenfall President and CEO Anna Borg, who was also a panelist, agreed that diversification is key, also putting forward nuclear as a key component.

“We will need all the fossil-free technologies that we get our hands on. But it is important to understand that the European economy can, in the long run, only be competitive if we phase out fossil fuels.”

Challenging regulations

Reviewing regulations is central to addressing all the underlying challenges delaying European energy sovereignty, the panellists agreed, especially in lowering prices.

Borg argued that overlapping legislation should be addressed, as it often impedes the swift development of key projects.

“Sometimes when we want to build something, we first have to get approval according to one regulation and then another. And they are overlapping in looking at the same thing, but you can get different results,” she said, calling for a more holistic approach.

The Vattenfall representative said what is really needed are “stable regulatory and policy frameworks” that are long-term: “(Energy) investments are made to be there for many decades. And the best thing that we can do from a European perspective is to keep an alignment between the countries so that policies don’t differ too much within the EU.”

She argued that a lack of such frameworks and the back-and-forth on regulations creates uncertainty, risking market investments.

Zaimler agreed that companies find Europe’s regulatory processes tedious. “Europe has the longest permission or process time from zero to build a new renewable plant in terms of permissions.”

He compared the process to that of the US, which he claims is more focused on awarding permits. “I see more motivation in the US to speed up (these processes) compared to Europe.” This issue is also expected to be targeted by the EU’s Grid Package presented in December.