Project Texas

How the Biden administration passed on TikTok's Project Texas, a proposal to let the US pick its board, veto hires, and more, opting instead for a sale or ban

TikTok offered the Biden administration control over its U.S. operations and a kill switch if things went south.  The Biden administration took a pass.

Sources and documents: TikTok managers sometimes tell Project Texas staff to send data, including email and IP, to ByteDance without going via official channels

Popular video-sharing app said it had walled off American data in so-called Project Texas, but employees say data is still sometimes shared with its China-based parent

TikTok CEO Shou Chew tells Congress that “after Project Texas is done” China-based ByteDance employees will no longer be able to access US TikTok data

A recap of TikTok CEO Shou Chew's testimony before Congress, in which he struggled to address national security concerns over ByteDance's ownership of TikTok

“[T]he day was dominated by political grandstanding that failed to acknowledge the real solutions already underway through Project Texas or productively address industry-wide issues of youth safety.” ...

A briefing by TikTok details Project Texas, its plan to remain operational in the US, including by moving data to a US subsidiary and using Oracle Cloud

Since 2019, TikTok has been negotiating with the U.S. government to address concerns about potential national security risks posed by the platform.

Interviews reveal TikTok's Project Texas, an effort to rebuild its internal systems to keep US user data in the US and limit its access to a new US-based team