A report comes from Reuters It said it has been working since last year to create a version of TikTok’s recommendation algorithm that runs independently of Douyin, the Chinese version of the app run by its parent company ByteDance. Completing the project could take more than a year, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity as part of a plan to show lawmakers the U.S. company is independent of its owners in Beijing.
The report said senior executives discussed the project in all-hands meetings and on the company’s internal messaging system, Lark. Sources also said that splitting the source code would cut off TikTok from its parent company’s “vast engineering development efforts.”
TikTok responded on Twitter saying, “The report published by Reuters today is misleading and factually inaccurate.”
Send in email to edgeTikTok spokesman Michael Hughes said, “While we continue to work in good faith to further safeguard the authenticity of the TikTok experience, the suggestion that this work will facilitate a divestment or even make it possible is simply false.” If the code is split, The response is “100% wrong”.
TikTok has previously tried to convince lawmakers of its U.S. independence through “Project Texas” data silos, which the company described as “an unprecedented initiative dedicated to making every American feel safe and secure on TikTok.” Their data is safe and the platform is free” from outside influence. Yet Alex Heath, who visited the Center for Transparency and Accountability last year in the project’s Transparency Theater, found a company that “seems to have realized that it can’t escape the U.S. ban on the merits of its technology.” “.
TikTok is already suing the U.S. government over a law that bars its parent company from handing over control of the app to others until January 19, 2025, or face a ban. according to Reuters The unnamed source said there are currently no plans to split the two companies; however, “once the code is split, it could lay the groundwork for divesting U.S. assets.”
