Oracle will recreate and secure TikTok’s recommendation algorithm for the U.S. market as part of the popular Chinese-owned app’s sale to a group of American investors, according to a Bloomberg report.
Bloomberg reports that a deal is taking for TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the app’s U.S. operations to a consortium of American investors. Central to the arrangement, as outlined by a White House official on Monday, is the role that American technology giant Oracle will play in securing TikTok’s powerful recommendation algorithm.
Under the proposed deal, the owners of the new U.S.-based TikTok entity would lease a copy of the algorithm from ByteDance. Oracle would then completely retrain this algorithm “from the ground up” to create a separate, secure version for the U.S. market. This approach seeks to address a key concern raised by lawmakers in Washington about the potential for the Chinese government to access and influence the app’s recommendation system, which is considered the secret sauce behind TikTok’s massive global popularity.
The algorithm, which uses advanced AI and machine learning to surface videos personalized to each user’s interests, has been a major point of contention in the debate over TikTok’s future in the U.S. Critics have warned that the Chinese government could potentially pressure ByteDance to manipulate the algorithm to spread disinformation or censor content, a common criticism for those who consider TikTok a psyop on young Americans.
By entrusting Oracle, a major U.S. technology company with deep expertise in data security, with the task of recreating and securing the algorithm, the White House appears to be seeking a compromise solution that would allow TikTok to continue operating in the U.S. while mitigating national security risks. The move also underscores the central role that algorithms play in shaping the modern digital media landscape, and the growing scrutiny they are attracting from policymakers around the world.
Details of the proposed deal remain scarce, and it is unclear exactly how Oracle would go about retraining the algorithm or ensuring its security. However, the White House official’s statement suggests that the goal is to create a fully independent U.S. version of the algorithm that would be inaccessible to ByteDance or the Chinese government.
For ByteDance, agreeing to sell TikTok to U.S. investors and relinquish control of the algorithm would be a significant concession, but one that may be necessary to keep the app alive in its most lucrative market. The company has already been forced to sell off TikTok’s operations in India, where the app was banned last year amid similar security concerns.
Peter Schweizer has explained, based on his work in Blood Money, why a TikTok deal took so long to happen:
Schweizer points out that if China refuses to agree to a sale, it is because, as he disclosed in Blood Money, the algorithm used by the app is considered a state secret, not a regular “business” secret. The Chinese government has been quoted calling the app “a modern-day Trojan Horse” and a “key part of their information-driven mental warfare” against the West. The book showed that ByteDance does joint research with Chinese intelligence agencies on how to manipulate people online.
“China has been studying this for years,” he adds.
Read more at Bloomberg here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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