Press Release: 6/1/2026

Senator Markey Presses TikTok, Oracle on National Security Concerns With New TikeToks U.S. Entity

 



Letter to TikTok Text (PDF) | Letter to Oracle Text (PDF)



Boston (May 29, 2026) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, today wrote to Adam Presser, President of TikTok USDS, and Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia, Chief Executive Officers of Oracle, requesting details on the implementation of President Donald Trump’s TikTok deal. Under the deal, ByteDance sold TikTok’s U.S. operations to a new company, TikTok USDS, with Oracle serving as its “Trusted Security Partner.” However, since the TikTok deal closed more than four months ago, the parties have released little information about how they are protecting against national security risks, including potential Chinese-driven algorithmic manipulation.



In 2024, Congress passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act to ensure, in part, that the Chinese government could not manipulate TikTok’s algorithm and covertly influence the content viewed by TikTok’s 170 million American users. Notably, the law prohibited ByteDance from having any “operational relationship” with the post-divestment owner of TikTok’s U.S. operations. Despite this clear congressional intent, President Trump, ByteDance, and TikTok USDS reached an agreement that maintained such an operational relationship, violating the spirit, if not the letter, of the law and leaving a critical national security risk unaddressed. Given the failure to sever any operational relationship between ByteDance and TikTok USDS, Senator Markey’s oversight letters request detailed information about how the companies are protecting national security, including implementing supposed safeguards designed to guard against algorithmic manipulation.



In the letter to TikTok USDS, Senator Markey wrote, “The first safeguard of the TikTok deal — source code review — raises three serious issues. First, TikTok’s various algorithms — including algorithms that recommend certain content in user feeds or remove or otherwise penalize content that violates TikTok’s terms of service — are an estimated two billion lines of code. Second, even if TikTok USDS could quickly review TikTok’s existing source code, TikTok USDS would have to be able to differentiate between tools for legitimate commercial content curation or recommendation and code with malicious purposes. Finally, source code review necessarily requires a tradeoff between effectiveness and speed. A longer, more comprehensive review of the source code to detect algorithmic manipulation means a slower timeline for releasing new updates to users.”



Senator Markey continued, “TikTok USDS has also failed to explain what its second safeguard — retraining its content recommendation algorithm — means in any meaningful way or how such retraining will prevent algorithmic manipulation. Will the retraining encompass the entire core recommendation system or only portions of it? Will TikTok USDS retrain the algorithm only on profile metadata or will it include user behavioral data? What is the timeline for the retraining? Without detailed and verifiable answers to these questions, it is impossible to assess whether retraining is a meaningful safeguard or a rhetorical one.”



In the letter to TikTok USDS, Senator Markey asked for information regarding:




  • The specific terms of the license agreement between ByteDance and TikTok USDS




  • How TikTok USDS intends to balance the need to conduct thorough code review with the urgent need to deploy critical security patches




  • Whether any user-related or model-related data could flow back to ByteDance from TikTok USDS



In the letter to Oracle, Senator Markey wrote, “The divestment deal has left the Congress and the American people rightfully wondering whether President Trump’s TikTok deal is a national security risk. Oracle can help fill these informational gaps. As part of the TikTok deal, Oracle agreed to serve as TikTok USDS’s Trusted Security Partner and assist with overseeing and implementing key national security safeguards. Under this arrangement, Oracle maintains TikTok USDS’s primary cloud environment by storing U.S. user data and TikTok USDS’s content moderation algorithm. Most notably, Oracle will also ‘assist’ TikTok USDS in reviewing source code. But beyond these high-level descriptions of Oracle’s role in the deal, little is known about the specific contours of its involvement. Despite repeated requests from my staff for briefings on Oracle’s operational role in the TikTok deal, Oracle has refused to provide further information. Given Oracle’s seemingly central position in implementing national security safeguards, the company has a responsibility to be transparent on the scope, execution, and effectiveness of its obligations.”



In the letter to Oracle, Senator Markey asked for information regarding:




  • The contractual terms of Oracle’s involvement in TikTok USDS’s review of ByteDance source code




  • How many algorithms, models, and systems TikTok USDS will retrain with Oracle’s oversight




  • Whether Oracle has access to, authority over, or oversight responsibilities for any other safeguards under the TikTok USDS deal



Senator Markey has been committed to keeping TikTok online in the United States while addressing the underlying national security risks. In January 2026, following reports that the U.S. and China had signed off on a deal over TikTok, Senator Markey criticized the lack of transparency over the agreement and called on Congress to investigate. In July 2025, Senator Markey released a discussion draft of legislation, called the TikTok Transparency and Data Security Act, that would address the national security risks posed by ByteDance’s ownership of TikTok without banning an application. In March 2025, Senator Markey, along with Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), sent a letter to President Donald Trump, requesting additional information on any efforts to keep TikTok online in the United States and urging the Administration to work with Congress on any potential resolutions to the TikTok ban. President Trump did not answer Senator Markey’s letter. In December 2024, Senators Markey and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to provide TikTok owner ByteDance with a 90-day extension to either sell TikTok or face a ban.