Chinese tech giants including TikTok owner reveal algorithms amid scrutiny
A string of Chinese tech giants have been pushed to share details of their algorithms with Beijing’s cyberspace watchdog amid increasingly scrutiny in China.
Some 30 companies, including Alibaba, Tencent and TikTok-owner ByteDance, today had descriptions of their algorithms published by the Cyberspace Administration of China.
The Chinese regulator is expected to regularly update the list to tackle the abuse of consumer data.
Fellow local regulator the State Administration for Market Regulation announced it would be more hawkish on data and competition in August last year.
Paolo Pescatore, analyst at tech, media and telcoms analysis firm PP Foresight told City PM today: “The unprecedented move is in direct response to the authorities looking to tighten controls for big tech companies.
“Undoubtedly this will represent a concern for companies and shareholders as the algorithms are the secret sauce of a business’ success.”
The likes of Meta and Google-owner Alphabet in the US have previously argued, successfully, that their algorithms are trade secrets.