Major Details Emerge in the US TikTok Deal - DTNS 5109

Oracle names major changes at the top of its C-Suite, including new co-CEOs, and the Apple iPhone Air is pretty darn repairable, according to iFixit.

Starring Jason Howell and Robb Dunewood.

This is the Daily Tech News for Monday, September 22, 2025. We tell you what you need to know, follow up on the context of those stories, and help each other understand.

Today, there are new details in the saga of a US TikTok deal, and Oracle makes some big changes at the very top of its C-suite.

I’m Jason Howell,

I’m Robb Dunewood.

Let’s start with what you need to know with the big story.

BIG STORY

Inside Trump's deal to save TikTok
No Golden Share For Trump in TikTok Deal, White House Says
What We Do and Don’t Know About US TikTok Deal With China
The Murdochs’ Fox Corp. Wants to Own a Piece of TikTok

JASON: Over the weekend, the White House revealed new terms in the proposed TikTok deal that would keep the app operating in the US. The terms would have ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese owner, creating a duplicate TikTok algorithm that it would lease to a new American-led joint venture. Oracle would oversee the algorithm's retraining as well as safeguard US user data.

ByteDance could continue running TikTok globally, while the board governing TikTok in the US will include new investors, existing ByteDance investors, and one ByteDance representative. The US government will not have a board seat, nor will it appoint anyone to the board directly. It will also not have any equity or "Golden Share" in the joint venture.

Fox Corp, led by CEO Lachlan Murdoch, is negotiating to acquire a stake in the US entity. Others include Oracle's Larry Ellison, Dell's Michael Dell, Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz to name a few.

Legislation had aimed at blocking any sort of cooperation with ByteDance, so it's possible that Congress might challenge the lease structure.

The US president is expected to sign an executive order later this week, according to Axios, to finalize the deal, with another 120-day extension to fully implement the deal.

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There’s more we need to know today. Let’s get to the briefs.

BRIEFS

Oracle Names New Co-CEOs as It Bets Business on Cloud
Oracle in talks with Meta for $20B cloud computing deal
ROBB: Oracle has appointed Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia as co-CEOs, replacing Safra Catz, who will now serve as executive vice chair. Magouyrk previously led Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and Sicilia managed Oracle Industries, which included work in applied AI. The move comes at a time when enterprise demand for AI solutions is booming, and each co-CEO's experience is seen as an important asset in Oracle’s push to scale its cloud services and strengthen its position in AI-powered business applications.

In other news, Oracle is in advanced talks with Meta for a potential $20 billion cloud computing agreement that would supply Meta with a massive amount of computing power to train and deploy its AI models. The deal is still under negotiation.

Trump’s H-1B visa fee isn’t just about immigration, it’s about fealty
Amazon, Google, Microsoft reportedly warn H-1B employees to stay in the US
"Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers – The White House"
JASON: Last Friday, the US president issued an executive order requiring employers to pay a $100,000 fee to process applications for H-1B visas. That is a temporary visa issued to skilled workers with a bachelor's Degree or higher who get work in the US, but do not intend to immigrate there. The White House said the new fee will only apply to new applicants, not existing visa holders.

And the H-1B fee may not be charged for all new applications. The executive order says that the fee will not be imposed if the Secretary of Homeland Security determines that hiring such workers “is in the national interest and does not pose a threat to the security or welfare of the United States.” In other words, the government can give tech companies exemptions from the fees. They could give the exemption broadly and only apply the fee for positions that would be sensitive to espionage. Or they could apply the fee broadly and use it as leverage to negotiate with tech companies.

Chrome is Google’s first iPhone app with Liquid Glass
Chrome for Android can now read webpages like a podcast
ROBB: Google Chrome 141 for iPhone introduces Liquid Glass with iOS 26. This is Google's first visual redesign tailored to the new UI style. Changes include a floating keyboard, updated context menus, and lots of rounded corners.

Chrome for Android also gets an unrelated update that improves the Read Aloud feature. The new update will lean on NotebookLM-style audio overviews and generate a two-person podcast summary of the webpage currently in focus. Users can tap the More icon and select Listen to this page.

iFixit's teardown shows the iPhone Air doesn't sacrifice repairability for thinness
Foldable iPhone Like 'Two Titanium iPhone Airs' Joined at the Hinge
JASON: The Apple iPhone Air finally got its iFixit teardown, which reveals that the slim device can hold its own on repairability, scoring a reasonable 7 out of 10. The battery design is the same as the iPhone 16, which means easy battery swaps using electrically released adhesives. The device also has a modular USB-C port. iFixit shared that the slimness of the device makes repairs "more approachable, not less."

And if you really, really like the iPhone Air, perhaps you'd love having two of them joined with a hinge on the side? That's what you can expect, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who shared details of Apple's upcoming foldable over the weekend in his Power On Newsletter. He also said that the price tag would be more than $2000 and that the device would be "super thin and a design achievement."

MediaTek Announces New Mobile Flagship Chip
ROBB: MediaTek unveiled its Dimensity 9500 chip, its latest and greatest mobile flagship, aiming for high-end phones along with top-shelf on-device AI, strong performance, and power efficiency. The chip uses its third-generation All Big Core CPU with three premium cores, four performance cores, and up to 4.21 GHz clock speed. Mediatek says it delivers 32 percent better performance in single-core operations and 17 percent in multi-core operations over the previous version. New phones with the chip are set to begin appearing in Q4.

Record labels claim AI generator Suno illegally ripped their songs from YouTube
JASON: Suno’s courtroom saga continues as major record labels have intensified legal action by alleging the company illegally "stream ripped" copyright songs from YouTube to train its models. The RIAA's new complaint claims Suno bypassed YouTube's encryption in the process, violating the DMCA's anti-circumvention rules. The lawsuit seeks statutory damages of $2,500 for each act and up to $150,000 per infringing work. Suno has not addressed these new claims publicly yet.

PROMO

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HELPING EACH OTHER UNDERSTAND

JASON: We end every episode of DTNS with some shared wisdom. Today Mohan has a thought regarding Friday’s story about Samsung turning on ads for smart refrigerators.

ROBB: Regarding Samsung and it's fridge with ads. I have never been happier with my choice of running a Pi-hole on my network! Thanks Samsung.

Pi-hole

Editor’s note: Pi-Hole is a network ad blocker. It can run on a Raspberry Pi, or any other Linux-based device or virtual machine.

JASON: What are you thinking about? Got some insight into a story? Share it with us feedback@dailytechnewsshow.com

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