There is a real, ongoing forced‑divestiture process for TikTok’s U.S. operations that is being shaped under Trump’s second administration (via enforcement of the 2024 Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the Supreme Court’s TikTok v. Garland decision in January 2025, and a Trump executive order in September 2025 approving a divestiture plan and extending deadlines). ByteDance is in the process of selling roughly 80% of its U.S. TikTok assets to a U.S.-led consortium, with the recommendation algorithm to be retrained or licensed under U.S. supervision. (en.wikipedia.org)

Regulatory and public scrutiny of recommendation algorithms has clearly intensified in 2024–2025 across many platforms:

• New York’s SAFE for Kids Act and California’s SB 976 restrict “addictive” algorithmic feeds for minors and require chronological feeds instead. (cohealthcom.org)
• The federal Kids Off Social Media Act would ban personalized recommendation systems for users under 17, and the bipartisan Algorithm Accountability Act would create liability when recommendation algorithms foreseeably cause physical harm. (en.wikipedia.org)
• Numerous state AG lawsuits (e.g., Minnesota) directly attack TikTok’s and other platforms’ “addictive algorithms,” and advocacy groups explicitly frame the problem as harmful design and recommender systems, not just content. (apnews.com)
  These developments show a broad policy shift toward scrutinizing recommendation engines.

However, much of this algorithm‑focused push predates the TikTok divestiture fight and grew out of earlier concerns (Facebook whistleblower leaks, teen‑mental‑health debates, the Kids Online Safety Act process, Utah’s and other states’ 2023–24 laws targeting “addictive” feeds, and earlier TikTok/RESTRICT‑Act efforts). (en.wikipedia.org) The PAFACA/TikTok saga certainly kept TikTok’s algorithm and the risks of covert content manipulation in the headlines and in court opinions, but current coverage still frames that mainly as a national‑security/foreign‑influence milestone rather than as the clear watershed moment for regulating recommendation algorithms across all platforms. (en.wikipedia.org)

Because (a) the divestiture has not fully closed and its ultimate governance/algorithm‑access structure is still being worked out, and (b) it is too early to know whether historians and regulators will treat this particular “TikTok sale under Trump” as a major turning point, as opposed to one important episode within a broader, already‑underway trend, there is not yet enough evidence to judge Chamath’s claim definitively. Hence the prediction is best scored as inconclusive (too early to tell) rather than clearly right or wrong.