What Happened
Oracle-TikTok Deal: National Security Theater
TikTok’s US operations were handed to a consortium including Oracle, whose CEO Larry Ellison is a major Trump donor, plus MGX, a UAE sovereign wealth fund. The deal was framed as addressing “national security concerns” about Chinese data access — but rather than banning the platform or ensuring independent oversight, it placed a youth propaganda platform under control of political allies.
The “national security” framing collapses under scrutiny: if Chinese data access was the real concern, handing the platform to a Trump megadonor and a Gulf sovereign wealth fund doesn’t solve it — it just changes who benefits. Oracle’s stock surged on the announcement.
Outcome: 🔴 Deal approved. No independent oversight. Political donors rewarded with control of platform reaching 170M Americans.
Sources
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New York Times (Jan 22, 2026) — “TikTok Deal with Oracle, ByteDance, and China” https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/technology/tiktok-deal-oracle-bytedance-china-us.html
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CNBC (Dec 19, 2025) — “Oracle stock surges on TikTok US deal with Trump and China” https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/19/oracle-stock-tiktok-us-trump-china.html