Oracle Launches "Project Texas" with TikTok, $1 Billion Data Storage Partnership

TikTok and Oracle formally launched “Project Texas” in July 2022, a comprehensive data isolation initiative designed to address U.S. national security concerns by migrating all American user data to Oracle’s cloud infrastructure and establishing new corporate structures to limit ByteDance’s access. Named after Oracle’s headquarters location, Project Texas involved TikTok routing 100% of new U.S. user traffic to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure beginning in July 2022, with the multiyear cloud contract already valued at more than $1 billion.

The project’s centerpiece was TikTok U.S. Data Security Inc. (USDS), a new subsidiary established in July 2022 to house TikTok’s most security-sensitive functions, including access to U.S. user data and content moderation decisions. TikTok estimated Project Texas would cost approximately $1.5 billion to implement, with annual operating costs between $700 million and $1 billion. Oracle’s role extended beyond mere data storage to include monitoring data flows in and out of USDS, reviewing TikTok’s source code, and auditing algorithms and content moderation systems for potential manipulation by the Chinese government.

Project Texas emerged following a June 2022 BuzzFeed News investigation revealing that ByteDance employees in China had repeatedly accessed U.S. user data, contradicting TikTok’s public assurances about data security. The revelations intensified Congressional pressure for either forced divestiture or a complete ban of TikTok, prompting the aggressive data migration to Oracle’s systems as a response to the political crisis.

Oracle’s positioning as TikTok’s “trusted technology partner” through Project Texas created unprecedented conflicts of interest. The same company holding CIA cloud contracts, Pentagon top-secret clearances for Special Access Programs, and authority to process the intelligence community’s most classified data would now have comprehensive access to TikTok’s algorithms, source code, and data infrastructure serving over 100 million American users. This dual role raised questions about whether Oracle’s TikTok access could facilitate U.S. intelligence community surveillance of the platform or create pathways for government agencies to exploit Oracle’s privileged position.

Project Texas exemplified how politically-connected corporations can position themselves as indispensable intermediaries in national security disputes, converting regulatory threats into lucrative business opportunities. Despite the $1 billion+ investment and Oracle’s oversight role, U.S. regulators never accepted Project Texas as an adequate solution to national security concerns, suggesting the arrangement primarily served Oracle’s commercial interests while providing political cover for TikTok’s continued U.S. operations without addressing fundamental concerns about Chinese government access or American government surveillance capabilities.