U.S.-Run TikTok to License Algorithm, White House Says

The software giant Oracle will oversee the security of Americans’ data and monitor changes and updates to its powerful recommendation technology under a new deal to avert a TikTok ban, according to a senior White House official.

A copy of the algorithm, the recommendation engine that powers the app’s addictive feed of short videos, will be licensed from China to an American investor group that will oversee the app in the United States, the official said.

Oracle will also invest in the new American TikTok, as will the private equity firm Silver Lake, another senior official said.

It will be “secured” in the United States outside the control of TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, one of the officials said. The U.S.-run TikTok will work to retrain the copy on users’ data in the United States, and China will not have access to the data, the officials added.

Under the terms of the deal, American companies will own around 80 percent of the American version of the app. ByteDance and other Chinese investors will own less than 20 percent.

In the United States, TikTok will be operated by a board of directors with national security and cybersecurity credentials, one of the senior officials said. ByteDance will choose one director on the seven-member board, and that person will be excluded from TikTok’s security committee.

The exact mix of investors has been in flux. Mr. Trump hinted this weekend that the media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan were considering an investment, which could come through the media giant Fox Corporation, a person familiar with the talks said.

The agreement also provides some assurances for how Americans’ sensitive data will be secured. The information will be stored in a “purpose-built cloud environment” in the United States and run by Oracle, one of the officials said.