‘If the Tiktok deal with China continues, Trump may get a propaganda channel in the US’

The great powers China and the US announced last week that they were close to an agreement on a de facto split off from Tiktok, one of the most popular video apps of the moment. The deal means that Tiktok can continue to exist in the US, but will be led by American (tech) companies. This means that there is an American version of Tiktok. Five years of negotiations preceded the impending agreement.

During Trumps first term in 2020, Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping still accused extortion and espionage via the video app. According to Trump at the time, American citizens would be at risk during the use of Tiktok, because all data would be in Chinese hands. His successor Joe Biden was on the same line and decided that Bytedance, the parent company of Tiktok, should sell the American branch of the company to a non-Chinese owner. Democrats and Republicans voted in the congress for a law with that meaning.

The deadline for that law proceeded at the beginning of this year, just before the inauguration of Donald Trump, so that Tiktok went black for one day. But Trump suspended the ban and no longer seems to be banning the Socialemedia app. According to Trump, the ‘framework agreement’ on the split -off meets the requirements of the law, Thus Reuters Thursday.

If there was already a spy code in the Tiktok algorithm, then China will certainly have demolished it soon

Tiktok is also difficult to imagine from the US. Fewer and fewer American Tiktok users see the video app as a threat and, according to Trump, his 19-year-old son Barron William advised him not to banish Tiktok. Trumps youngest voters can also be found on the platform.

Furthermore, the app would play a role in the negotiations between the two countries about the high import duties imposed by the US China. At the beginning of this year, the US President allowed so-called Tiktok journalists to the press room of the White House, which has also had one since August OWN OWN TIKTOK PROFILE.

Spy codes

A group of companies of Trump-minded billionaires become the new drivers of the American Tiktok. For example, the richest man in the world is involved in the deal, Larry Ellison. He is the CEO of TechGigant Oracle, and will take the lead on the online safety and privacy of American users. MediaMagnaat Lachlan Murdochs, CEO of Fox Corporation, would also become one of the new drivers. For the time being, the US is the only country that gets its own version of the video app.

Chinese Bytedance, the global owner of Tiktok and the maker of the ‘addictive’ algorithm behind the video app, has now provided a copy of this algorithm to the US. “If there was already a spy code in the Tiktok algorithm, China will certainly have demolished it in advance,” says Mathijs de Weerdt, professor of Algorithms at TU Delft. De Weerdt develops algorithms for tackling planning problems, among other things for facilities involving more parties, such as the electricity grid.

The new American drivers will adjust the Chinese algorithm and secure them in a different way. In principle, the technology remains the same, but all the data from users comes into the hands of American companies, and not from Bytedance. “The goal remains to keep people on Tiktok for as long as possible, in order to earn money through advertisements,” says De Weerdt. The algorithm will also be trained on what Americans like. “As an American Tiktok user, you no longer get to see what a Chinese or European user likes.” But they still get videos from all over the world in their tap feed.

American propaganda

China has never confirmed that it will keep an eye on the American population via Tiktok. This while the company behind Tiktok can follow the activities of American users via the app. According to De Weerdt, China learns more about the American population in this way. “This way they can also estimate how they can best implement Chinese propaganda on the Tiktok channels if they would like to.”

The ability to exert this kind of influence is now in the hands of the US president and his tech billionaires. This could change the app into a platform that tries users to convert to Trump fans. De Weerdt: “The app can prefer Pro-Trump films. The room for videos that have been positive about Democrats can also disappear.”

Zoom in

This possible political interference will not immediately stand out. “Something like that is subtle,” says Algorithm expert De Weerdt. He calls the American talk show Jimmy Kimmel as an example. The show of the presenter and comedian disappeared temporarily from television because he would have made inappropriate jokes about the murderer of the right -wing activist Charlie Kirk. “Fragments of his show would no more or less often shown on Tiktok.” He does consider it possible that on Tiktok will soon become a place where Charlie Kirk is ‘praised’.

Effect on Europe

In order not to be dragged into a ‘newer and safer’ tick, according to De Weerdt, it is important that he or she realizes who is in his hands. This also applies to non-American users, where Chinese Bytedance keeps control. But he does not expect that other countries can also demand their own version of Tiktok.

The ‘Tiktok deal’ will have a noticeable effect on users in Europe, says De Weerdt. The US government now creates its own tap bubble. “As a result, the trends from America will arrive less quickly via Tiktok in the Netherlands. Our algorithm will also lean a little more on what the Chinese users get to see through the app than what the Americans are presented with.”

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