WASHINGTON: The chair of the House Select Committee on China said on Thursday (Oct 16) that a licensing agreement for use of the TikTok algorithm, as part of a deal by China-based ByteDance to sell United States assets of the short video app, would raise “serious concerns”.
Representative John Moolenaar, a Republican, is waiting for a briefing to get more details on the deal that White House officials said previously would include the new owners of TikTok’s US assets licensing the algorithm. “I think anytime you have (China) with leverage over the algorithm, I think that’s a problem,” Moolenaar said at an event at the Hudson Institute.
TikTok did not immediately comment.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Sep 25 declaring that the plan to sell TikTok’s US operations to a consortium of US and global investors meets the national security requirements set out in a 2024 law and gave them 120 days to complete the transaction.
“I just believe you have to have a new algorithm, and I don’t know that you can reprogram,” Moolenaar added, pointing to technology experts who say it is unclear precisely what is in the algorithm. “I would say it’s still very much a work in progress.”
Trump last month delayed until Jan 20 the enforcement of the law banning the app used by 170 million Americans unless its Chinese owners sell it.
