Chinese tech giants have been obliged by new regulations since March to hand over information about their algorithms to the government. According to Bloomberg Thirty popular companies have now done so, according to a public list. Web giant Alibaba has also shared information about its algorithms with the government.
An algorithm is a set of rules that a computer follows. Often it is used to perform tasks on a large scale that would take people a lot of time. For example, algorithms are used to detect fraud or to determine which messages users see (first) on social media.
The public list only contains short descriptions of how the algorithms work. It is also briefly described what they are used for. According to legal expert Zhai Wei of East China University, the companies have shared more detailed information with the government, but that information cannot be made public.
Companies usually keep their algorithms secret because they are important to the success of their services. Facebook parent company Meta and Google parent company Alphabet previously claimed that algorithms are trade secrets.