Oracle vetting TikTok's algorithms to ensure no US data access to China

SAN FRANCISCO: Cloud major Oracle is now vetting short-form video platform TikTok's content moderating algorithms to ensure that the Chinese government does not have access to the US users' data.

According to Axios, all new US user traffic on TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, is being routed to Oracle's cloud infrastructure.

However, it is "still unclear when TikTok will be done with migrating all of its previous US user data over to Oracle's cloud," the report said late on Tuesday.

The move is a measure to assure the US lawmakers that TikTok's content is not being manipulated by the Chinese authorities amid fears that the country has access to the US users' data.

Last week, reports surfaced that at least 300 employees of TikTok and its parent company ByteDance employees worked for the Chinese state media publications, and more than a dozen still do.

Profiles of 15 current ByteDance employees revealed they worked at the tech firm and state media outlets simultaneously, Forbes reported. TikTok's meteoric rise has generated national security concerns from US lawmakers.

TikTok recently admitted that employees outside of the country could access that information, although "robust cybersecurity controls and authorisation" from its US security team were required.

In June, Buzzfeed News reported that TikTok users' data in the US was repeatedly accessed by employees in China. More reports surfaced this week that Alibaba, TikTok-owner ByteDance and Tencent have shared details of their algorithms with Beijing's regulators for the first time. In June, TikTok revealed it had begun routing all its US user data to Oracle's cloud infrastructure. (IANS)

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