TikTok algorithm to be ‘retrained’ by Oracle in Trump deal

Oracle will recreate and provide security for a US version of TikTok’s algorithm, as part of a deal orchestrated by President Donald Trump to force a divestiture of the American arm of the Chinese-owned viral video app.

White House officials said on Monday the arrangement would ensure that US buyers would retain control of the app’s recommendation software after its TikTok US operations are spun off by its Chinese owner ByteDance.

These new American owners would lease a copy of the algorithm from ByteDance that would then be rebuilt by Oracle. Further technical details on how this would be achieved have not been announced.

“Oracle will operate in partnership with the U.S. government to ensure safety and data security across the entire TikTok platform — from source code review, to algorithm retraining, to application development and deployment,” said a White House official.

The comments jar with Beijing’s recent claims that the algorithm will remain in Chinese hands.

Read More (...)