TikTok is reportedly splitting its source code to create an algorithm unique to the US

A report of Reuters says work has been underway since last year to create a version of TikTok’s recommendation algorithm that operates independently of Douyin, the Chinese version of the app operated by its parent company ByteDance. According to unnamed sources, the project could take more than a year to complete, as part of a plan to show lawmakers that the U.S. business is independent of its owner in Beijing.

The report says that executives talked about the project in general meetings and on the company’s internal messaging system, Lark. The sources also said the source code split would cut TikTok off from its parent company’s “tremendous engineering development power.”

TikTok responded by tweeting“The Reuters story published today is misleading and factually inaccurate.”

In emails to On the edgeTikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes said: “While we have continued to work in good faith to further safeguard the authenticity of the TikTok experience, it is simply false to suggest that this work would facilitate divestment or that divestment is even a possibility.” , and when asked if the code is being split, replied that it is “100% false”.

TikTok has tried to convince lawmakers of its independence from the U.S. before, with the data silo “Project Texas,” which it described as “an unprecedented initiative dedicated to making every American on TikTok feel safe, trusted by that your data is safe and the platform is free from external influence.” However, Alex Heath visited a Transparency and Accountability Center last year and, in the midst of the project’s transparency theater, found a company that “appears to have realized that it will not save itself from a US ban on technical merits”.

TikTok is already suing the US government over the law that gives its parent until January 19, 2025 to hand over control of the app to someone else or be banned. According to Reuters sources unidentified, there are no plans to separate the companies; however, “once the code is split, it could lay the groundwork for a divestment of US assets.”