As TikTok’s U.S. business faces a potential sale to Oracle and a group of investors, concerns are growing about the future of the app’s powerful content-recommendation algorithm.
Business Insider reports that China’s TikTok, the popular short-form video app known for its highly personalized “For You” algorithm, is facing a critical juncture as its owner, ByteDance, is expected to sell its U.S. operations to comply with a divestment law. The pending sale has raised questions about the fate of TikTok’s algorithm, which has been a key factor in the app’s success and user engagement — and controversial for its impact on teen mental health, like pushing pornography to 13-year-olds.
According to the White House, the new owners will retrain TikTok’s content-recommendation algorithm and operate it in the United States, independent of ByteDance’s control. However, this transition is not without its challenges. TikTok employees and creators have expressed concerns about whether a retrained algorithm will be as effective in delivering the personalized content that users have come to expect. TikTok critics point out that the popular TikTok algorithm is essentially a Chinese psychological weapon.
Peter Schweizer has explained, based on his work in the book Blood Money, why the TikTok algorithm caused a deal to take 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.
The complexity of TikTok’s recommendation system, which relies on a wide array of signals to determine what content to show each user, makes the transfer of technology a daunting task. Researchers have described the algorithm as a “black box,” with its exact workings closely guarded by the company. ByteDance will need to find a way to hand over the system while protecting its trade secrets and ensuring that U.S. user data remains inaccessible to the Chinese company, in compliance with U.S. law.
The level of ByteDance’s involvement in the U.S. spin-off after the sale is another key factor that could impact the algorithm’s performance. While ByteDance is expected to retain a minority stake, it will have to relinquish control over U.S. data and other critical aspects of the business. Uncoupling the content-recommendation algorithms from ByteDance’s infrastructure and workforce could alter the algorithm’s outputs, according to experts in the field.
ByteDance has several options for granting access to the algorithm without sharing its full code, such as using an application programming interface (API) or a privacy-first technology like a data clean room. However, the extent of ByteDance’s involvement post-sale must be carefully navigated to avoid pushback from U.S. lawmakers, who have stressed the importance of prohibiting cooperation between ByteDance and the new TikTok entity on the recommendation algorithm.
TikTok users and creators have expressed mixed feelings about the potential changes to the app’s algorithm. Many have spent years curating their personalized feeds and worry that a retrained algorithm may not deliver the same level of tailored content. Some creators, particularly those who cover global topics, are concerned that a U.S.-focused algorithm could result in a loss of diversity and international perspective on the platform.
Read more at Business Insider here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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