TikTok and its “secret sauce” caught in the dispute between China and the United States

2024-03-20 14:38:29

A US bill to separate TikTok from its Chinese parent company must pass the Senate in Washington, but experts believe that Beijing’s response to a forced sale of the application – and its algorithm, its “secret sauce” – will be clear: no question.

The bill was passed last week by the U.S. House of Representatives. The text plans to force the parent company of the short video sharing platform, the Chinese company ByteDance, to sell TikTok, under penalty of ban in the United States.

But Beijing does not want such a precedent, especially since the algorithm arouses the envy of its competitors, experts say.

“This kind of threat is like theft,” according to Mei Xinyu, a Beijing-based economist. “All things considered, the Chinese government’s reactions have so far been very moderate. […] What the US government is proposing goes way too far.”

American elected officials are concerned about the possible access of Chinese authorities to the data of American users of TikTok as well as its ability to carry out propaganda on the platform.

TikTok rejected the accusations, saying it spent $1.5 billion (1.38 billion euros) on its “Project Texas”, the storage of American user data in the United States.

But many American lawmakers and security agencies, including the FBI, are not convinced.

For some, data is only part of the problem and it is essential that the algorithm that produces personalized recommendations for users is disconnected from ByteDance.

“The secret sauce”

This algorithm providing tailored content has contributed to TikTok’s stratospheric success since the app’s international launch in 2017.

Its precise characteristics remain a closely guarded secret, but they allowed TikTok to reach one billion users in four years. Facebook, by comparison, took more than eight years to do the same.

Other social networks offer tailored content using algorithms analyzing user data, but not with as much success.

The algorithm is “valuable because TikTok is addictive. People spend more time on TikTok than on other social networks,” explains James Andrew Lewis, technology expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), an American think tank. “It’s the secret sauce that makes TikTok a success.”

The administration of former US President Donald Trump (2017-2021) had already sought to ban TikTok in 2020, and the algorithm had already been at the heart of discussions.

This year, the Chinese government designated algorithms that provide recommendations based on analysis of user data as protected technology.

No specific company was named, but for economist Mei Xinyu the initiative is a consequence of American pressure on TikTok.

TikTok ensures that thanks to its “Project Texas”, its recommendation algorithm for American users is stored with their data in Oracle servers in the United States.

But in January, the Wall Street Journal claimed that ByteDance employees in China updated the algorithm so often that “Project Texas” couldn’t keep up.

Its CEO Shou Zi Chew has already assured that TikTok will not be “manipulated by any government” and that the Chinese government has never requested data from American users.

But in Beijing, authorities did not mince their words regarding the proposed American law, warning that China would take all necessary measures to defend its interests.

“There is a desire to preserve the option of a relationship with the intelligence services, and there is a bit of nationalist pride,” analyzes Mr. Lewis of CSIS. “Some are just angry that the Americans are trying to force the sale. All this places Beijing in defense of ByteDance.”

China wants to avoid a forced sale to protect the country’s companies, according to Zhang Yi, founder of the technological research company iiMedia, based in Guangzhou (China): “Once the precedent is set, countless Chinese companies would risk the same fate in the future “.