TikTok USDS Joint Venture Established to Protect U.S. User Data

TikTok USDS Joint Venture has been established in compliance with the executive order signed by President Trump on September 25, now enabling more than 200M Americans and 7.5M businesses to continue TikTok's experience. The majority American owned joint venture will operate under defined safeguards through data protections, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurances for U.S. users. TikTok USDS Joint Venture's mandate is to secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm through data privacy and cybersecurity measures. U.S. user data will be protected by USDS Joint Venture in Oracle's (ORCL) secure U.S. cloud environment. The Joint Venture will operate a data privacy and cybersecurity program that is audited and certified by third party cybersecurity experts. The program will adhere to the National Institute of Standards and Technology CSF and 800-53 and ISO 27001 as well as the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency Security Requirements for restricted transactions. The joint venture will retrain, test, and update the content recommendation algorithm on U.S. user data. The content recommendation algorithm will be secured in Oracle's U.S. cloud environment. The Joint Venture will secure U.S. apps through software assurance protocols, and review and validate source code on an ongoing basis, assisted by Oracle. TikTok global's U.S. entities will manage global product interoperability and certain commercial activities, including e-commerce, advertising, and marketing. The Joint Venture will operate as an independent entity governed by the following seven-member, majority-American board of directors: Shou Chew, director, is the CEO of TikTok, where he leads the company's global businesses and strategy. Timothy Dattels, director, Timothy Dattels is a senior advisor to TPG Global (TPG). Mark Dooley, director, is a managing director at Susquehanna International. Egon Durban, director, is co-CEO of Silver Lake. Raul Fernandez, independent director and chair of the security committee, is president and CEO of DXC Technology and a member of its board of directors. Kenneth Glueck, director, is executive VP in the office of the CEO at Oracle. David Scott, director and Security Committee, is chief strategy and safety officer at MGX. The joint venture will be led by Adam Presser, who was appointed as CEO by the board as one of its first actions. He will be joined by Will Farrell as chief security officer. TikTok USDS Joint Venture has three managing investors, Silver Lake, Oracle and MGX, each holding 15%. Completing the full consortium of investors are: Dell Family Office, the investment firm of Michael Dell, founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies (DELL); Vastmere Strategic Investments, an affiliate of Susquehanna International; Alpha Wave Partners; Revolution; Merritt Way, controlled and managed by partners of Dragoneer; Via Nova, an affiliate of General Atlantic; Virgo LI, Inc., investment arm of a foundation established by Yuri and Julia Milner and NJJ Capital, the family office of Xavier Niel. ByteDance retains 19.9% of the Joint Venture. The safeguards provided by the joint venture will also cover CapCut, and Lemon8, and a portfolio of other apps and websites in the U.S.