TikTok builds its own algorithm to continue operating in the US market

TikTok is currently developing a recommendation algorithm for its 170 million US users, according to people familiar with the matter, which could lead to a version that operates independently of its Chinese parent company and is more palatable to US lawmakers seeking to ban the app.

The work to separate the source code at the behest of ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, began late last year, before a bill to force the sale of TikTok’s US operations began gaining traction in Congress this year.

The unnamed sources also said that the code split could lay the groundwork for divesting TikTok's US assets, although there are currently no plans to do so.

ByteDance and TikTok initially declined to comment when asked by Reuters about the story. However, after the article appeared, the companies said on social media platform X: “The Reuters article published today is misleading and factually inaccurate.” Meanwhile, the news agency said it “stands by the story” after the response.

Previously, some sources quoted TikTok representatives as saying that they “would rather shut down than sell themselves.” ByteDance will not sell TikTok to another company and in the worst case, they will close the application in the US.

On April 24, US President Joe Biden signed into law a law requiring TikTok to sell its US assets by January 19, 2025, or be banned entirely. TikTok then filed a lawsuit in US federal court in May against the US government, arguing that the divestment was “simply impossible” because the issue was not about commerce, technology, or legality, but about the rights of US users. And it certainly could not be done within the 270-day timeframe required by the law.

Efforts to create a separate source code for the US market

Over the past few months, hundreds of ByteDance and TikTok engineers in both the US and China have been ordered to begin separating millions of lines of code, sifting through the company’s algorithms that match users with videos of their interest. The engineers’ task is to create a separate codebase, independent of the systems used by the Douyin platform (TikTok’s Chinese version), and remove any information that links to Chinese users.

US President Biden and other supporters of the legislation argue that TikTok gives Beijing too much access to vast troves of data, information that could be used to spy on or influence American TikTok users.

Reuters previously reported that a sale of the app along with its algorithm is highly unlikely. The Chinese government in 2020 added TikTok's content recommendation algorithm to its export control list, requiring any divestment or sale of TikTok's algorithm to go through its administrative licensing procedures.

The source code for TikTok's content recommendation algorithm was originally developed by ByteDance engineers in China and customized for TikTok's operations in various global markets, including the United States, according to a regulatory filing.

ByteDance attributes TikTok's popularity to the effectiveness of its content recommendation algorithm, which builds a content feed for each user based on how users interact with the content they view.

The complexity of forking TikTok's source code

The complexity of the work, which sources described to Reuters as “heavy, tedious work,” underscores the difficulty of separating the underlying source code that ties TikTok’s U.S. operations to its Chinese parent company. The work is expected to take more than a year to complete, the sources said.

TikTok and ByteDance have vowed to fight the US law in court on First Amendment grounds. But engineers have continued to comply with orders to separate TikTok's US content recommendation algorithm from ByteDance's broader network.

An earlier plan to segregate US user data, known as Project Texas, failed to appease US regulators and lawmakers, and the company is now looking to step up efforts to prove its US operations are independent of its Chinese owners.

At one point, TikTok executives considered open-sourcing part of TikTok’s algorithm, or allowing others to access and modify it, to demonstrate technological transparency, sources said.

Additionally, the legal issues surrounding determining what parts of the source code can be transferred to TikTok for use in the US market are seen as complicated.

The goal is to create a new source code repository for its recommendation algorithm that will only serve TikTok in the US market. Once completed, TikTok in the US market will run and maintain its recommendation algorithm independently from TikTok apps in other regions and the Chinese version of Douyin. The move will completely cut off TikTok in the US market from the vast technical development power of its parent company in Beijing, the sources said.

If TikTok completes the separation of its content recommendation algorithm from the Chinese version of Douyin, TikTok in the US market could be at risk as it cannot offer the same level of performance as TikTok currently does because it relies heavily on ByteDance engineers in China to update and maintain the source code repository to maximize user engagement, the sources added.

Some creators unexpectedly support the TikTok ban

According to Fortune magazine (USA), some content creators in the US suddenly turned to support the TikTok ban despite previously opposing it. For example, Tess Barclay, a media consultant who currently has a TikTok account with more than 135,000 followers, once said the ban was “a really big deal” and worried about the impact it would have on creators like her.

However, in his latest video, content creator Barclay said: “The reality is that apps are always changing, algorithms are always changing. When one app disappears, another one appears. That’s part of the game.”

Others agree, saying that without TikTok, people might spend less time on social media. Landon Drake, who has 11,000 followers on TikTok, said: “Banning TikTok is actually a good thing, because we can relive the moments before it. Users will have more time to access the outside world, which is better for mental health.”

Still, the majority oppose blocking TikTok. In mid-May, a group of content creators sued the US government, arguing that the ban deprived them of a means of earning a living and interacting socially.

The proposal to build its own algorithm for the US market represents TikTok’s attempt to address growing national security concerns in the US over the Chinese government’s potential influence over user data. By developing a separate algorithm, TikTok aims to demonstrate greater operational autonomy and allay concerns about the platform’s ability to protect sensitive user information.

The technical complexity is huge, however, and the potential impact on user experience is uncertain. Still, TikTok's commitment to a separate algorithm for US users signals a strategic shift that could pave the way for a more independent future for the platform in the US market.