Courtesy of JTA. Photo credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty ImagesOracle co-founder Larry Ellison speaks during a news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 21, 2025 in Washington, DC

(JTA) — American Jewish leaders have blamed Tiktok for allowing antisemitism to spread among young people and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently accused China of using the platform to promote anti-Israel sentiment around the world — a charge China denies.

The allegations form a backdrop to the high-stakes negotiations over TikTok’s future in the United States that may be finally heading to a resolution. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Thursday that Beijing has green-lit a multi-billion dollar deal that would bring the social media platform’s operations in the United States under American control.

“In Kuala Lumpur, we finalized the TikTok agreement in terms of getting Chinese approval, and I would expect that would go forward in the coming weeks and months, and we’ll finally see a resolution to that,” Bessent told Fox Business following a meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The deal follows a law passed last year requiring China-based ByteDance to sell or face a ban of the app, which U.S. officials have called a national-security risk.

Details of the agreement have not been released, but the White House has previously said that a consortium of U.S. investors led by Oracle Corporation — whose co-founder, Larry Ellison, is a longtime supporter of Jewish causes and of Israel — would acquire a controlling stake in the app.

For the leader of one of the largest and most broadly representative Jewish groups in the country, these developments are hopeful.

“At the Jewish Federations of North America, we are optimistic about this moment,” JFNA CEO Eric Fingerhut said Tuesday while moderating a panel on the deal at the organization’s Washington headquarters. “Frankly, the part that makes us the most optimistic is the parties that seem to be associated with the deal on the American side, especially Oracle and Larry Ellison personally, who’s been such a strong supporter of our community.”

Also on the panel was social media expert Sarah O’Quinn, the U.S. director for public affairs at Center for Countering Digital Hate, who said she shared Fingerhut’s optimism that TikTok’s new owners would take steps to lessen the spread of antisemitism on the platform.

“This change in leadership — are they going to improve their policy?” O’Quinn asked rhetorically. “I think that’s probably true based on… the broad support coming from Ellison and Oracle on that [issue].”