Under the deal being negotiated by the White House, TikTok’s China-based owner, ByteDance, would retain a stake in the company, but data collection and software updates would be overseen by Oracle, which already provides the foundation of TikTok’s Web infrastructure, one of the sources told Reuters.

“Late Show” host Stephen Colbert mocked President Donald Trump ’s explanation for his about-face on TikTok, which he tried to ban during his first term in office but is now trying to protect. Critics say the popular social media video platform has close ties to the Chinese government and could be used as a tool to spy on Americans.

The president said he’s also open to another tech giant to acquire TikTok: Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle. Ellison was present at the White House for a $500 billion AI infrastructure partnership between the Trump administration and OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle. Oracle, a software company, houses most of TikTok's servers