Chinese internet companies including Alibaba, Tiktok owner ByteDance, and Tencent have disclosed their algorithms for the first time to Chinese regulators.
Algorithms determine what users see and the order in which they see it; they are crucial to the expansion of social media platforms.
They are carefully protected by corporations.
Meta and Alphabet have successfully contended they are trade secrets in the United States, despite pleas for greater openness.
The Chinese Cyberspace Administration (CAC) has issued a list of thirty algorithm descriptions.
It stated in a statement that its list of algorithms would be constantly updated to prevent data exploitation.
Among the listed algorithms is one that belongs to Alibaba’s e-commerce website Taobao.
According to the Mandarin paper, Taobao’s algorithm “recommends products and services to users based on their digital footprint and search history.”
ByteDance’s algorithm for Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, reportedly measures user interests based on what they click, comment on, “like” or “dislike”
Kendra Schaefer, director of tech policy research at Trivium China, characterized the findings as “superficial.”
She told the BBC that it does not appear that the algorithms themselves have been submitted.
“Each algorithm has been assigned a registration number so that the CAC can concentrate its enforcement efforts on a specific algorithm. What is the next step in determining whether an algorithm is up to code?”
However, according to Zhai Wei, executive director of the Competition Law Research Center at the East China University of Political Science and Law, the material provided was “certainly far more extensive than what was released.”
That concerns confidential business information that cannot be disclosed,” he told Bloomberg.
Ramping up control Suranjana Tewari, Asia Business Correspondent
Ultimately, this approach is about control.
China boasts the world’s largest population of internet users and is a massive market for e-commerce, gaming, and smartphones. Consequently, the region’s technological companies have grown dramatically in recent years.
Beijing is very protective of the technology underlying these enterprises and prohibits its export abroad.
However, China is concerned about how these platforms may influence public opinion in China and desires to have greater control over its technology and data. It wishes to refocus people’s attention on content that the government deems appropriate for public consumption.
Beijing has encouraged service providers to guarantee that algorithms “actively transmit positive energy” and are not used to promote gluttony, excessive spending, or celebrity culture exposure.
International brands such as Google and Facebook have resisted until now, claiming that algorithms are trade secrets, in response to calls to disclose details about how they use data and filter content.
Since roughly two years ago, Chinese policymakers have tightened their grip on the technology sector.
In March, the nation established new regulations for algorithms that allow individuals to opt-out of contributing to recommendations.
The CAC was also required to register algorithms with “public opinion qualities or social mobilization skills.”
Ms. Schaefer described the disclosure of the registrations as “extraordinary.”
I am unaware of any other place in the world where you can see a list of all the pieces of code that are fundamentally influencing the decisions you make, the purchases you make, and the information you read,” she said.
