United Daily News (UDN), one of the primary Taiwanese news groups, recently reported that Chinese tech giants such as Alibaba, Tencent and TikTok’s parent company ByteDance have handed over details of the online algorithms of some of their services to government regulators. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), which oversees the Chinese Internet, released a list of 30 algorithms, for regulation purposes, that companies use to collect user data and promote content and services. Tech companies around the world keep their algorithms closely guarded as trade secrets, but in March, China announced rules that force companies to hand over their algorithms to authorities using the reason that it will preventing them from misusing data. The new rules require that companies cannot engage in activities that could threaten national security or social stability or encourage excessive addiction. The regulations state that service providers must frequently self-assess to ensure compliance and submit records to the relevant Chinese authorities. China’s move to establish an algorithmic registration system is unprecedented. So far, neither the United States nor the European Union (EU) have implemented such regulations. Applicable internet businesses range from social media provider like Weibo to food delivery platforms like Meituan.
Source: UDN, August 17, 2022
https://udn.com/news/story/7331/6542508?from=udn-ch1_breaknews-1-cate4-news