The first thing to understand about the TikTok deal is that it’s not actually a deal—at least not in any official capacity yet. Trump’s executive order Thursday simply delays the Chinese social media app from being banned in the U.S. (as required by a law passed in the spring of 2024) for another 120 days, while the various parties seek to finalize an agreement.

So there’s a lot we don’t know about the agreement, and there’s a lot that could change.

But if you listen closely to everything that was said during Trump’s signing ceremony , and if you piece together the official White House statements as well as various press reports about the deal, a couple things become clear:

The China-built algorithm at the heart of the U.S. national security concerns will continue to serve content t

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