Beijing strengthens its control of tech

Big Chinese tech companies have been making fortunes for years thanks to their algorithms. This software, which allows for example to create a hyper-personalized feed on TikTok, generally operate very opaquely. Beijing has forced the biggest groups in the sector to reveal their precious secrets, as announced on Friday by the Cyberspace Administration of China, one of the country’s regulators.

About thirty companies are concerned, including the e-commerce giant Ali Babathe entertainment group Tencent Where ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok. It is not with lightheartedness that these companies have revealed their secret recipe. They are forced into it. In March, China passed a law controlling how companies use recommendation algorithms. They must now be analyzed and then approved by the regulator. The user must also be free to accept or refuse these recommendations.

A proliferation of regulations

If companies must be transparent with Beijing, the government does not apply the same constraints. Very little information about this software has been made public. The only declassified things about Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese twin, is that the algorithm is used to recommend products and services that users might be interested in. Interest determined through behavioral data like clicks and likes. The document published by the regulator does not make it possible to determine whether it knows much more about the operation of the tools.

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China has been trying for two years to regain control over powerful tech companies. It multiplies regulations both on the protection of personal data – by adopting a GDPR a year ago – and on anti-competitive practices. This decision to frame the algorithms is a new turn of the screw. The regulator is even ahead of its European equivalents, which are often very concerned about consumer protection.