LATEST DEVELOPMENT
Trump's executive order approving TikTok's sale to a MAGA-friendly investor group including Oracle's Larry Ellison, Michael Dell, Andreessen Horowitz, Silver Lake, and the Murdochs has raised alarm among content creators worried about algorithm manipulation, content censorship, and the platform's viability as creators' primary income source.
INDUSTRY TALK
"It is exhausting having yet another social media space that proved to be an unexpectedly generative community get taken over by the same clique of reactionary billionaires that ruined Twitter and Substack."
BY THE NUMBERS
Deal structure includes:
$14B business valuation according to VP JD Vance
170M U.S. TikTok users potentially affected
ByteDance retaining less than 20% ownership stake
43% of Americans aged 18-29 getting news from TikTok
$178B in projected U.S. economic activity over four years
OWNERSHIP CONCERNS
Investor composition includes:
Oracle (Larry Ellison) providing security oversight and cloud computing
Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch (Fox News, NY Post, WSJ owners)
Michael Dell (Dell Technologies founder)
Andreessen Horowitz venture capital firm
Silver Lake private equity investment group
CREATOR FEARS
Platform risks include:
Algorithm retraining on U.S. data raising manipulation concerns
Left-leaning news creators significantly outnumbering other platforms (Pew Research)
Already reported crackdowns on speech critical of power and administration
Content restrictions on Gaza-related posts
Potential transformation into "right wing echo chamber"
CREATOR RESPONSES
V Spehar (3.7M followers) threatening to quit if pro-MAGA manipulation occurs
Jonathan Katz calling it "exhausting" having another platform "ruined" by billionaires
Concerns about gradual feed shifts toward "slop, hate, and far-right trolls"
Questions about whether Oracle can maintain addictive algorithm without consumer experience
Creators weighing whether to abandon platform as environment becomes hostile
THE BOTTOM LINE
TrumpTok deal positions MAGA-friendly billionaires to control America's most popular video app and preferred news source for young Americans—raising critical questions about whether Oracle can maintain the platform's success while creators fear gradual content manipulation could force them to abandon the income source millions depend on, potentially reshaping the creator economy landscape.