I was wondering about that. I was kind of shocked that TikTok allowed US companies to buy it, mostly because it meant giving away the algorithm, but this makes a lot more sense.

Seems like they have been at an impasse for a while. The US wants to control social media algorithms.

“Chinese law says that algorithm must remain under Beijing control. But U.S. law requires TikTok to be cut off from any “operational relationship” with ByteDance, “including any cooperation with respect to the operation of a content recommendation algorithm.”

(…) That plan, like the one outlined Monday, would have seen all U.S.-origin user data from TikTok stored on domestic servers operated by Oracle. Then, too, Oracle and a third party would have reviewed TikTok’s source code to make sure it was not manipulated. Some of that plan was put in effect in recent years.”

Jeez, grow some balls. Ban TikTok and then make your own shitty algorithm without competition, if they decide they want to keep a dead cow.