Powerful Republican represents potential roadblocks to the Trump -backed plan to save Tiktok

Oracle technology giant plan to save Tiktok is hitting a frightening obstacle: Sen. Tom Cotton.

Arkansas’ conservative heavy weight has made it clear to the Trump team he will oppose any agreement that does not comply with a US bipartisan legion demanding that TIKTOK be completely separated from its Chinese control and ownership, according to three people in direction.

Cotton has not made public comments on the current state of discussions to save Tiktok from a sale or detention commissioned in Congregal. But sources close to him tell the post that he has recently been asked about the status of talks and there have been conversations with the White House on the matter.

Possible Cotton Opposition may launch a highly discussed tikhikuli deal to accommodate user data from the short video app to Oracle servers. Right now, China -based Tiktok Bytedance Mother Company still owns the algorithm. Oracle and Tiki leaders have argued that since Algo would be placed inside Oracle’s Cloud, it would be the American technology giant, not the Chinese, who are in control of it.

However, skepticism remains from the main lawmakers such as cotton and others. This reaction has also led White House officials to weigh other tools to prevent the app not being banned at the US, these people say.

President Trump – who ironically pushed a ban on his first mandate for spying concerns – recently has a soft place for the app. He credits Tiktok by helping him win the 2024 presidential election after the pro-trump videos circulated throughout the campaign.

After being in office, he issued an executive order giving a 75 -day return from law, allowing Tiktok to find a partner of the agreement before the detention came into force. The suspension of the detention ends on April 5, and it is unclear whether Trump will issue another executive order until the agreement is made.

Trump has long argued that Oracle-Co-founded by his close friend Larry Ellison, the billionaire of the Silicon-Miliarder Valley-must be at the center of any damage that includes Tiktok.

One of the problems with the drafting of any agreement is, of course, the signature of the Chinese government, which plays an essential role in the operations of all Chinese companies, even those with publicly traded actions in the JBA people near negotiations say Trump may need to negotiate with Chinese President Xi Jinping to make it happen. Beijing has made it clear so far in the negotiations that it is not ready to share with Tiktok’s algorithm.

As I first reported on March 7, the deal on the board will include a kind of “licensing agreement” between Oracle and Bytedance, people familiar with the issue said. It will include tiktok’s US operations control, keeping and storing user data. Bytedance would still be the algorithm – meaning, critics claim, the Chinese Communist Party would still be at least in theory in product control and can be used to use for spying purposes, a tick has long denied.

Critics say the transaction appears to fall outside the rigors of the legislation known as the No Tiktok Act on government equipment, which was signed by law in 2022 by President Biden, and after a long court battle, upfeld by the Supreme Court day before Trump received.

Now, the White House aide is arguing if Tiktok is worth a brutal battle to save it if the Chinese do not want to give up full control, people say with direct knowledge of the matter.

“I know Trump as the app. He thinks he helped him win in November, but with everything else on his plate, is it worth saving?

A cotton spokesman had no comment. A person closes with him indicates the money “If this agreement does not match the law, he is absolutely against him, but it is very soon to say what the substance of the agreement will be.”

A White House spokesman had no immediate comment. A spokesman for Tiktok had no comment. A spokesman for Oracle had no immediate comment.

In the midst of the flame of talks, cotton has made one thing clear, these people say: He wants any agreement to oppose the Congress legislation that “prevents the creation or maintenance of any foreign opposing operational relationship.”

Oracle and the White House could have the opportunity to keep the algorithm in its cloud, and with additional protective measures, the Chinese would not “control” it anymore.

Cotton, a Republican of Rangut on the Senate Intelligence Committee, is said to be skeptical of this approach, and wants new company owners to create their algorithm or buy it existing from the Chinese.

He has long been a critic of Tiktok, raising national security concerns that the Chinese communist regime, which has control over China Inc., has access to users’ data for spy artisan purposes. Another concern is that the algorithm of the entire import delays anti-American propaganda to its 170 million users, consisting mainly of young children and adults.

But since the early days of Chinese-Titok diversion talks about five years ago, Chinese government officials have made it clear that they were not willing to share with the so-called Tiktok secret sauce, its algorithm that improves by feeding video

Since then, Tiktok has moved its user’s data to be stored in Oracle Cloud, something known as the “Texas Project” because the technology giant is based. She has hired lobbyists to make her own Congress issue that does not remove user data for spying purposes.

The new licensing agreement will apparently include additional protective measures to prevent any attention in the background from the Chinese to gain access to it, but many GOP lawmakers and China hawks as cotton still have to be shaken. Another issue: the possible responsibility of any agreement that does not meet the strict standard of law that includes Chinese control or algorithm ownership.

People with knowledge of discussions at the Oracle-White house say that any agreement belonging to what the law sets out for a clear break from China can be subject to litigation, including by Democrats of State Attorneys, means that Oracle may need to be compensated by the White House.