TikTok is reportedly building a copy of its core recommendation algorithm in the U.S. The effort comes even as the company tries to thwart legislation that would force its China-based parent company ByteDance to sell off the business or face a total ban of the app in the U.S.
The effort to restructure its algorithm would allow the popular video-sharing app to operate separately from ByteDance, which could allow TikTok to continue operating if it is sold to a US buyer. Reuters reported.This was said citing a source familiar with the matter.
ByteDance reportedly instructed engineers to begin cloning the algorithm last year before U.S. lawmakers backed the bill.
Despite these efforts, sources told the outlet that there are no current plans to sell TikTok.
The algorithm is crucial to powering TikTok, which has more than 170 million users in the United States.
The complex project is expected to take more than a year to complete and will reportedly require the creation of a code base in the United States that is separate from the systems used by ByteDance.
TikTok executives reportedly briefed employees about the project in an all-hands meeting and asked the company’s legal and compliance teams to work through potential roadblocks.
TikTok and ByteDance have said for months that they would not sell.
Earlier this month, TikTok filed a federal lawsuit to block the divestment law from going into effect.
A TikTok spokesman denied the Reuters report, calling it “misleading and factually incorrect.”
“As we stated in our court filings, the ‘qualifying sale’ required by the Act to enable TikTok to continue operating in the United States is simply not commercially, technically, or legally possible.”
And it certainly won’t meet the 270-day deadline set out in the act,” the spokesman said.
The legislation, titled “Protecting Americans from Applications Controlled by Foreign Adversaries,” requires TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to exit the popular video-sharing app within 12 months or face a total ban in the US.
The bill was passed last month as part of a foreign aid package for Ukraine and Israel.
The company argues that the divestment bill is a de facto ban and violates the First Amendment.
In the lawsuit, TikTok’s legal team argued that the 12-month deadline for a sale was “simply commercially, technically and legally impossible.”
“This bill would undoubtedly force TikTok to shut down by January 19, 2025, silencing the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways they can’t find anywhere else,” the lawsuit states.
TikTok’s sale has been complicated by China’s strict laws restricting technology exports.
China passed a law in 2020 requiring companies to get government permission to export AI-related technology, but it is highly unlikely that Beijing would grant permission for TikTok’s sale.
Former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, one of the potential buyers for TikTok’s US operations, has said the app’s algorithm would have to be rebuilt in the US as part of any deal.
As reported by The Washington Post, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has proposed a plan to restructure the algorithm as the only way to meet Congress’ national security concerns about the app and circumvent Chinese export laws.
Former Trump administration officials are also looking for AI companies to assist in their bid and help with rebuilding the app.
