Exclusive-TikTok preparing a US copy of the app’s core algorithm, sources say
- TikTok is working on a clone of its recommendation algorithm for its 170 million U.S. users that may result in a version that operates independently of its Chinese parent and be more palatable to American lawmakers who want to ban it, according to sources with direct knowledge of the efforts.
TikTok declined to comment. The company has previously said it had no plans to sell the U.S. assets and such a move would be impossible. Reuters previously reported that a sale of the app with algorithms is highly unlikely. The Chinese government in 2020 added content recommendation algorithms to its export-control list, requiring a divestiture or sale of TikTok's algorithm to go through its administrative licensing procedures.
TikTok and ByteDance have vowed to battle the U.S. law in court on First Amendment grounds. Nevertheless, engineers continue to operate under orders to disentangle TikTok’s U.S. recommendation engine from ByteDance’s broader network, the sources said. Executives have communicated plans and provided updates on the code-splitting project during a team all-hands, in internal planning documents and on its internal communications system, called Lark, according to one of the sources who attended the meeting and another source who has viewed the messages.Compliance and legal issues involved with determining what parts of the code can be carried over to TikTok are complicating the work, according to one source.
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