Politics
26 Jan 2023
Never before seen in the tech world: China's digital regulator has published a list that enumerates, company by company, the type of behaviour and content on which algorithms are based to offer products to Internet users. These algorithms are the livelihoods and best kept secrets of companies.
An algorithm is the real lifeline of a technology company, and therefore logically its best kept secret. In January, in the midst of a war with its Big Tech players, China announced that it wanted to have access to these companies' algorithms. The stated aim of this regulation was to protect Internet users' data. In reality, for Beijing, they had become too free and too powerful.
The law came into force in March and companies could only comply with it. With this measure, Internet users should be able to choose not to be exposed to recommendation algorithms - a bit like the European GDPR, in short. But on Friday, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the digital regulator, published a list of about 30 companies, with a description of how their recommendation algorithms work, reports CNBC.
Few details published
This is a first. It is the first time that a public authority has exposed such a list in broad daylight. Fortunately, the list provides few details about the algorithms. In the case of Douyin of ByteDance, the Chinese version of the video-sharing social network TikTok, it is stated that the algorithm is used to "recommend videos, products and services that users may be interested in based on behavioural data such as clicks and likes".
On Taobao, the name of Alibaba's local online retail platform, the algorithm is "used to recommend content on the homepage and other parts of the app based on search and user history data".
In short, nothing surprising in itself. This is the basic operation that one would expect from an algorithm. What is not known, however, is the extent to which regulators have had access to the algorithms and the technical details of how they work.
Users now have a glimpse of how their data is processed; it remains to be seen whether the regulation of the industry and their algorithms will stop there or whether further action may follow. China's Big Tech is trembling: their algorithm is their precious secret that gives them an edge over the competition.