​TikTok, the network that the US government wants to ban unless it cuts ties with China, has created perhaps the most effective algorithm in the tech industry that is extremely effective at attracting and keeping users. It was this algorithm that became one of the reasons why the network was “backed into a corner”.

The Trump administration wanted to ban TikTok in 2020 but failed, and the Biden administration is now making another attempt, and the effort is better organized.

The situation is different, and for TikTok it is worse, because the tension between the US and China is stronger, and in the US the pressure is stronger, the support for the ban in Congress is greater, and more lawyers are working to understand how this app can be blocked.

• How TikTok wants to convince European officials that it is not a Beijing spy app

In the US, TikTok is seen as a much greater threat to national security than it was three years ago, and lawmakers have introduced measures that would extend the powers of the Biden administration if TikTok is banned in the US. The new measures have the support of a majority in the US Senate.

Several senior US officials have said that the biggest concern is TikTok’s algorithms, which, being very powerful, can be modified and used to provide US users with a variety of clips to manipulate and create misunderstandings in society. The fear is related to the possibility of manipulating the results of future elections, especially since TikTok has 150 million users in the United States.

• As TikTok CEO tries to mobilize public against US legislature: ‘We’re at a defining moment’

The algorithms were created in China by very smart Chinese IT people. The fear is that these very “smart” people may come up with manipulation campaigns so that users in the US will see mostly divisive clips at the behest of the authorities in Beijing. There is no evidence that such a campaign even took place on TikTok.

In November, the head of the FBI said that the Chinese government could use TikTok’s algorithms for “influence operations,” and this month, the head of the NSA said that “you can not only influence something, you can stop it.” message delivery when you have such a large audience.”

• Why TikTok will not easily find a buyer, although it has an extremely large influence in the world

TikTok has created one of the best algorithms in the tech industry that can suggest a lot of videos to passive users who don’t follow, like, or comment.

A big difference from other networks is that TikTok does not insist that those who have an account post anything at any time, but relies heavily on passive consumption and especially on the “For You” section, where you you can learn about trends, brands, users and products, depending on them they give you algorithms that build your profile from the first seconds after you start watching clips.

The algorithm quickly “senses” which clips you can watch and shows them to you based on how many seconds you’ve been watching different clips.

The US would like to see TikTok completely separate from the Chinese group ByteDance to cut all ties with China, but that seems highly unlikely. What is certain is that Chinese authorities will never allow the technology behind the algorithms to reach American companies.

The media reported that ByteDance, the group that owns TikTok, is valued at $180 billion, recently received $5 billion in funding, and also received US investment funds as shareholders.

Sources: New York Times, Financial Times, AFP

Photo source: Dreamstime.com