S20: TikTok: Victim or Villain?

• “Truths” about TikTok: How to separate rumors from the real risks?
• To ban or not to ban?
• How to regulate social media in the age of misinformation?

• Who is Zhang Yiming, founder of Bytedance?
• What is Bytedance’s business model? What makes the company successful?
• Discuss Bytedance’s early products: Today’s Headlines (jinri toutiao) and Subtle Jokes (Neihan duanzi)

• Who owns Tiktok?
• Who owns Bytedance? Is it a Chinese company?
• From Douyin to Tiktok: How were the apps born? What are their differences?
• What’s Bytedance’s relationship to the Chinese government? Do they share information?
• How does the app recommend and/or moderate content?

• Is the app a national security issue? How?
• How legitimate are Tiktok’s data privacy concerns? How do they compare to other social media platforms?
• Should TikTok be banned for its addictive algorithm and its impact on young users?
• What are economic consequences of banning TikTok, especially for creators and small businesses?

• Do nothing and stick to mission
• Lobby with government
• Legal battles
• Sell-off / Spin-off

• In 2024, TikTok/Douyin was the most valuable unicorn worldwide with a $200 billion market cap.
• As of 2025, TikTok had over 950 million users, and Douyin had over 830 million users.
• TikTok’s major markets are America and Southeast Asian countries.
• A third of users aged below 34 years registered on TikTok versus half of Douyin users were under 31 years.

• U.S. Data Security Joint Venture: TikTok has established a U.S.-based joint venture to handle data security, algorithm integrity, content moderation, and software assurance — formally separating these functions from ByteDance’s Chinese parent.
• Valuation: The joint venture is valued at approximately $14 billion, while ByteDance’s overall private valuation surged to ~$500 billion post-deal (up from under $300 billion during the threat of a ban).

ByteDance Retains 19.9% Stake:

Under U.S. law, ByteDance holds the maximum allowed minority stake of 19.9%. The joint venture is majority-owned (80%) by a consortium of U.S. and allied investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake, MGX (Emirati investment vehicle), Dell, etc.

Algorithm Control Compromise:

TikTok’s core recommendation algorithm remains owned by ByteDance but is licensed to the U.S. joint venture, where it is retrained, tested, and updated using U.S. user data — all secured within Oracle’s U.S. cloud infrastructure.

Economic Benefits Stay with ByteDance:

Despite the separation, ByteDance retains direct control of TikTok’s U.S. revenue streams — including advertising, e-commerce, and marketing — preserving the majority of profits.

• Geopolitical Approval: The deal required approval from both U.S. President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
• Former President Donald Trump personally intervened to broker the agreement. While China has not publicly endorsed the final structure, it has given the green light to the deal’s outline.

• Oracle as Key Partner: Oracle (led by Trump ally Larry Ellison) is responsible for securing U.S. user data and hosting the algorithm, acting as the technical and security backbone of the venture.
• Ellison has control huge portions of America’s AI, attention economy and legacy media. He already owns swathes of AI infrastructure and is preparing to takeover TikTok, whilst his son, whose company Skydance already owns Paramount, is preparing a deal to buy Warner Bros.

• Was a good deal?
• For whom?
• Why?

TikTok now censors the word “Epstein” when mentioned in DMs by users in the U.S.

Currently, the word is not being filtered for users in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world. pic.twitter.com/XA1Kye6mIq

— Pop Base (@PopBase) January 27, 2026

• What should be the guiding principles for the development and use of AI?
• Should we be concerned with artificial general intelligence (AGI)? Can humanity monitor AI if it matches or surpasses human cognitive capabilities?
• What are the stakes of the AI tech race? Should the US lead, and how?

• AI promises to provide better information and make people more productive.
• However, only a few companies and governments control powerful AI, and the industry’s focus is currently on geopolitical competition and making money.
• AI could be an equalizing force, but it can also be used as a tool for ruling over people, with serious concerns about job loss, income inequality, and the impact on democracy.