“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said, adding that Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed to the arrangement. However, Chinese media suggested ByteDance may continue to play a role in operations, raising questions about the extent of separation.

TikTok’s US spin-off comes amid heightened scrutiny of data privacy and national security concerns. The app, with 170m American users, has been credited by Trump as pivotal in his re-election campaign. Analysts at Wedbush previously estimated TikTok’s US arm could be worth $30bn–$40bn without the algorithm, far higher than the White House’s $14bn valuation.