TikTok's ‘US version’ in making as federal ban looms

After facing a bill to ban its operations in the United States, TikTok is reportedly working on a separate algorithm for its 170 million US users, which will operate independently from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

Once the video app’s code is split, it will become more attuned to American audiences and Congress's laws.

As per Reuters, hundreds of ByteDance and TikTok developers in China and the United States have been given instructions to start sorting through millions of lines of code in order to find videos that suit customers' preferences using the company's algorithm in the last few months. 

The engineers' goal is to remove all data pertaining to Chinese users and develop a distinct code base that is independent of the system used by ByteDance's Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin.

Once completed, TikTok US will run and maintain its recommendation algorithm independent of TikTok apps in other regions and its Chinese version, Douyin.

According to reports, after this move, TikTok US may not be able to deliver the same level of content as the app is highly dependent on ByteDance’s engineers based in China.