An exclusive excerpt from Every Screen On The Planet reveals how the social media app’s powerful recommendation engine was shaped by a bunch of ordinary, twentysomething curators—including a guy named Jorge.

On September 25th Donald Trump signed an executive order allowing the app to continue operating in America, on the basis that its Chinese owner, ByteDance, is to sell most of its stake in TikTok’s American operations.

TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, has been at the center of controversy in the U.S. for four years now due to concerns about user data potentially being accessed by the Chinese government.

The Act referenced in the EO is the 2024 Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which was specifically made to apply to TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd. The Act said such an application must be divested or banned if it constitutes a national security threat.

Rep. John Moolenaar has requested an urgent briefing from the White House after Trump supported a deal giving Americans a majority stake in TikTok.

Trump said Oracle's Larry Ellison, Rupert Murdoch, and Michael Dell are involved in the TikTok US deal. Silver Lake and MGX could also be in the mix.

The deal to save TikTok shines a light on the Trump administration’s disregard for the law.

TikTok is in its US era now, but there's still a lot of questions surrounding the deal.