‘The secret sauce’ That ByteDance algorithm has helped drive TikTok’s stratospheric success since the app was launched for the international market in 2017.It crunches huge amounts of user data, such as their interactions on the app and their location, to provide more content tailored for them.Its precise details are a closely guarded secret, but it helped propel TikTok to one billion users in just four years. Facebook, by comparison, took more than eight years to reach that milestone.Other social media platforms also deploy tailored recommendations based on algorithms that analyse user data, but analysts say TikTok’s has been so successful that it is considered by some to be the company’s most precious asset.The algorithm is “valuable because TikTok is sticky. People spend more time on TikTok than they do on other social media”, James Andrew Lewis, a technology expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told AFP.”This is the secret sauce that makes TikTok a success.”The algorithm has been at the centre of discussions about any potential sale of TikTok since the administration of then US president Donald Trump sought to ban TikTok in 2020.That year, the Chinese government designated algorithms that provide recommendations based on user data analysis as a protected technology, meaning their export would require Beijing’s approval.While no specific app or firm was cited, the economist Mei said the move was “to a very large extent” because of US pressure against TikTok.TikTok has said that under Project Texas, its recommendation algorithm for US users is stored along with their data on Oracle servers in the United States.However, The Wall Street Journal reported in January that ByteDance employees in China updated the TikTok algorithm so frequently that Project Texas workers could not track all changes.TikTok did not respond to AFP’s questions about the Wall Street Journal report or about where its algorithm is updated.CEO Shou Zi Chew has said previously that TikTok will not be “manipulated by any government” and that it has never been asked by the Chinese government for US user data.
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