TikTok preparing a US copy of the app’s core algorithm, sources say

TikTok is working on a clone of its recommendation algorithm for its 170 million US users that may result in a version that operates independently of its Chinese parent and be more palatable to American lawmakers who want to ban it, according to sources with direct knowledge of the efforts.

The work on splitting the source code ordered by TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance late last year predated a bill to force a sale of TikTok’s US operations that began gaining steam in Congress this year. The bill was signed into law in April.

The sources, who were granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the short-form video sharing app, said that once the code is split, it could lay the groundwork for a divestiture of the US assets, although there are no current plans to do so.

The company has previously said it had no plans to sell the US assets and such a move would be impossible.

TikTok initially declined to comment. After publication of this story, TikTok in a posting on X said “The Reuters story published today is misleading and factually inaccurate,” without specifying what was inaccurate.

TikTok also posted a passage from its federal lawsuit: “the ‘qualified divestiture’ demanded by the Act to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally.

And certainly not on the 270-day timeline required by the Act.” “We stand by our reporting,” a Reuters spokesperson said.

TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance sued in US federal court in May, seeking to block the law forcing a sale or ban of the app by Jan. 19.

A US appeals court on Tuesday set a fast-track schedule to consider the legal challenges to the new law.