Critics across the US are accusing the company of spying on top journalists located in the US. But ByteDance is not sitting quietly. It is willing to make some major concessions to deal with American officials so that such a ban is never implemented.
ByteDance is now reported to be working by the side of the Committee for Foreign Investment across America and it’s not something new. It’s been taking place undercovers for months now so that the app could strike a deal and continue its operations in the US.
The American target market is definitely not small and losing out on such customers could really hit the company big time. Recent discussions appear to be focused on the likes of a deal that would focus more on data storage. This includes restricting access to data belonging to American users by ByteDance employees working in China.
This new arrangement would see the app creating a new partnership with firms like Oracle in regard to local storage for American users. Recently, new concerns arose regarding how the app’s algorithm functions. And that too would be linked to manipulating people using this feature.
Regarding this, the company is putting forward a new deal that could restructure the firm’s operations across the US and make way for transparency of its algorithms. This would put emphasis on more focus and control from the likes of authorities belonging to the US.
As recently put forward by TikTok, these meetings are crucial and are becoming more urgent for the platform in recent times. It’s a big promise that TikTok is making but the stakes are high and it really wants American state officials to know that they’re willing to do anything and everything to get its algorithms back on track in terms of being more transparent.
This is definitely not the first time that we’ve seen the app propose talks for greater transparency. Way back in 2020, the platform announced some major plans to establish its own Los Angeles-based transparency center. This was to create a distance between potential interference by government officials in China. Now, this is being dubbed as a part of the new negotiations taking place, alongside the motive of giving more insight on the matter.
There is a lot of discussion regarding China manipulating users’ data for their own benefit and the concern is not new. It’s one that has arisen as a huge concern for American officials. While small scale at first, it’s large right now. And that is what has led to a possibility of a complete ban on the platform.
But the hope of the decision being reverted is still not out of the question. Officials at TikTok are seeing transparency as a savior but whether or not such talks would be successful, only time can tell. As it is, 27 states have banned the app from appearing on devices owned by government officials.
Read next: TikTok's Talent Manager: Facilitating More Brand Deals for Top Creators in the App
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World
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