ALGORITHM ASSASSINATION: Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX Stage $14B Coup to Take Control of TikTok US

The digital “Wild West” has been tamed, fenced in, and sold to the highest bidders. On December 18, 2025, ByteDance officially surrendered. After years of posturing and a brief “blackout” period, TikTok’s Chinese parent company signed binding agreements to hand over the keys to the kingdom. But don’t be fooled—this isn’t a “victory for privacy.” This is a $14 billion corporate heist that puts your feed into the hands of a billionaire-led consortium.

The “New TikTok” is now a joint venture called TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, controlled by Oracle, Silver Lake, and the Abu Dhabi-based firm MGX. While you were worried about China spying on your dances, the “security” deal just handed Larry Ellison—a staunch Trump ally—total oversight of the algorithm that controls what 170 million Americans see every single day.

The “Rage Trigger” Section: The Controversy Everyone Is Ignoring

The mainstream media is celebrating “safeguarded data,” but they are burying the real scandal: The Algorithm isn’t being deleted; it’s being “retrained.” Oracle will now oversee the “re-education” of the AI using only U.S. data.

This is state-sanctioned censorship in its most high-tech form. Critics are calling it a “franchise arrangement” rather than a true divestment. Why? Because ByteDance still keeps a 19.9% stake and likely retains the underlying intellectual property. We didn’t “ban” the influence; we just changed the name on the letterhead and gave the controls to billionaires who have a direct line to the White House.

Deep Background: The “Dark Period” and the Trump Fix

Remember January 2025? The app actually went dark for several hours after the Supreme Court upheld the original ban. Since then, President Trump has used multiple executive orders to keep the app on life support while his billionaire donors hammered out this deal. The “dirty history” here is a series of deadline extensions that miraculously ended with Oracle—the company that hosts the data—owning a massive chunk of the platform.

The Cold Hard Truth from the Insiders

“This isn’t a divestiture; it’s a takeover,” says one former Treasury official. “The law required a clean break from ByteDance. This deal keeps them in the room while giving Larry Ellison the remote control.”

Insiders know the real value isn’t the $14 billion price tag—it’s the influence. By retraining the algorithm on U.S.-only data, the new owners can effectively “adjust the knobs” on public opinion. If you thought the “For You” page was addictive before, wait until it’s tuned to the political and commercial interests of its new American masters.