National Defense

Chinese-Owned Social Media Giant Hopes New Transparency Plan Will Keep It From Getting Banned In US

PARIS, FRANCE - MARCH 05: In this photo illustration, the social media application logo, Tik Tok is displayed on the screen of an iPhone on March 05, 2019 in Paris, France. The social network broke the rules for the protection of children's online privacy (COPPA) and was fined $ 5.7 million. The fact TikTok criticized is quite serious in the United States, the platform, which currently has more than 500 million users worldwide, collected data that should not have asked minors. TikTok, also known as Douyin in China, is a media app for creating and sharing short videos. Owned by ByteDance, Tik Tok is a leading video platform in Asia, United States, and other parts of the world. In 2018, the application gained popularity and became the most downloaded app in the U.S. in October 2018. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)

The popular Chinese-owned company TikTok is planning to give United States officials oversight of the app’s algorithm in an attempt to increase transparency, The Wall Street Journal reported.

TikTok’s proposal would allow its algorithm to be monitored by U.S.-based company Oracle and third parties who would determine whether or not the codes had been manipulated or if the Chinese government had access, according to the WSJ. The proposal would also establish the TikTok U.S. Data Security (USDS) which would protect user data and report to a board of directors under the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS).

The proposal would staff 2,500 people on the USDS and would follow requirements established by the United States government as well as the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, which safeguards national security by regulating the export of military and defense technology. Chinese nationals would not be permitted to work on the USDS in accordance with the regulation, the WSJ reported.

TikTok’s push to increase transparency in the United States comes on the heels of calls to ban the platform on government-owned devices because of national security concerns. For years, lawmakers have expressed concern that China could use the app to influence the content that is exposed to U.S. citizens and that Americans’ personal information could be exposed to Beijing.

The proposal is an attempt to show U.S. officials that the app can function outside of Chinese-based ByteDance Ltd, TikTok’s parent company. A TikTok spokesperson, however, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the app is not waiting for an agreement in order to implement changes to ease concern about the app.

“The solution under consideration by CFIUS is a comprehensive package of measures with layers of government and independent oversight to address concerns about TikTok content recommendation and access to U.S. user data—measures that go well beyond what any peer company is doing today,” the spokesperson said. “We’ve made substantial progress on implementing that solution over the past year. We look forward to completing that work to put these concerns to rest.”

In total, TikTok spent nearly $1.5 billion to set up the Oracle data center, move coding and hire third-party monitors, according to the WSJ. If TikTok and U.S. officials reach a deal, the expenses could tally an additional $700 million to $1 billion.

The app also rerouted all of its traffic through Oracle since summer 2022, the WSJ reported. The proposal would delete the backup data through an audited process.

The U.S. government may force ByteDance Ltd to leave the market or “sell parts of its operation” if the deal fails, according to the WSJ.

Oracle and the U.S. Department of Treasury, which oversees CFIUS, did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

This story has been updated with comment from TikTok.