Donald Trump has given his “blessing” to Oracle’s partnership with ByteDance to operate TikTok, but his claim that the companies would finance a $5bn “patriotic” education fund has raised questions about the deal to allow the app to operate in the US.
The president said he had given “preliminary” approval for the deal that Oracle and ByteDance, the Chinese owner of the short-video app, proposed to alleviate concerns about protecting US national security.
But in a new twist in the more than week-long negotiations between the companies and his administration, Mr Trump said his team was talking to them about funding a venture that would teach American children about the “real history of our country”.