TikTok signs deal to avoid US ban
Global News Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 8.3K Ratings
🗓️ 19 December 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Chinese-owned app TikTok has agreed to sell its US operations to overcome the threat of a ban prompted by national security concerns. The joint venture will be led by American investors. ByteDance's video-sharing platform boasts over a billion users worldwide, including more than 170 million in the United States.
Also: US Democrats release another batch of Epstein photos. Australia announces a gun buyback scheme in the wake of the Bondi Beach mass shooting. Violent protests erupt in Bangladesh after the death of prominent youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi. We meet the Ukrainian war widows who are fighting for their husbands legacies. And how researchers are using drones to investigate the health of whales in the Arctic.
The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: globalpodcast@bbc.co.uk
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.7 | This is the Global News Podcasts from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:13.2 | I'm Charlotte Gallagher, and in the early hours of Friday, the 19th of December, these are our main stories. |
| 0:20.1 | After years of legal wrangling, TikTok signs a deal |
| 0:23.5 | to save its future in the US. Democrats release another batch of photos from the estate of sex |
| 0:30.3 | offender Jeffrey Epstein. Also in this podcast, there are now more than 4 million firearms in Australia. |
| 0:40.8 | The terrible events at Bondi show we need to get more guns off our streets. |
| 0:45.5 | Australia announces a scheme to buy back guns after the Bondi Beach terror attack |
| 0:50.7 | and how researchers are using drones to investigate the health of Wales. |
| 1:00.5 | After years of uncertainty, TikTok's future in the US may finally be secured. The White House |
| 1:07.6 | branded the social media app a national security threat and gave it two options. |
| 1:12.9 | Distance itself from its Chinese parent company bike dance will be banned in the US. |
| 1:18.1 | Now TikTok has signed a deal to sell part of its U.S. business to American investors, |
| 1:23.1 | as our North America technology correspondent, Lily Jamali, told me. |
| 1:26.5 | We have some details that come from a memo which I have viewed that was shared by |
| 1:30.9 | TikTok CEO, Showchu, with employees today. So what we know is that it will be, the U.S. |
| 1:37.8 | operations of TikTok will be majority owned by American investors. These will include Oracle, |
| 1:43.4 | the cloud computing giant that happens to be |
| 1:45.6 | chaired by Larry Ellison, who is a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump's. |
| 1:50.8 | MGX, the Emirati Investment Fund, is also going to own a stake here. So that's of note. |
| 1:56.3 | The Chinese owner of TikTok will also hold on to about 20% of the operation. This memo also talks about |
| 2:03.9 | protecting Americans data and U.S. national security, which is why we got to where we are. |
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