Google tailoring a search engine for China: report
US Internet titans have long struggled with doing business in China, home of a “Great Firewall” that blocks content as seen fit by officials
Updated 02 August 2018
AFP
SAN FRANCISCO: After exiting China eight years ago due to censorship and hacking, Google is tuning a mobile search app that would filter blacklisted search results in order to re-enter the market, according to US media reports. The California-based Internet giant has engineers designing search software that would leave out content blacklisted by the Chinese government, according to a New York Times report citing two unnamed people familiar with the effort.
News website The Intercept first reported the story, saying the Chinese search app was being tailored for Google-backed Android operating system for mobile devices.
The service was said to have been shown to Chinese officials. Google did not respond to a request for comment. There was no guarantee the project would result in Google search returning to China. US Internet titans have long struggled with doing business in China, home of a “Great Firewall” that blocks content as seen fit by officials. In early 2010, Google closed up shop in mainland China after rows over censorship and hacking. Google had cried foul over what it said were cyberattacks aimed at its source code and the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. The US and China are currently involved in a trade war, with President Donald Trump imposing tariffs and Beijing responding in kind.
TikTok finalizes a deal to form a new American entity
The social video platform company signed agreements with major investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX to form the joint venture
The company said in a statement that the new version will operate under “defined safeguards” with an emphasis on data protections and software assurances for US users
Updated 38 sec ago
AP
TikTok has finalized a deal to create a new American entity, avoiding the looming threat of a ban in the United States that has been in discussion for years on the platform now used by more than 200 million Americans. The social video platform company signed agreements with major investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment firm MGX to form the new TikTok US joint venture. The new version will operate under “defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurances for US users,” the company said in a statement Thursday. American TikTok users can continue using the same app. President Donald Trump praised the deal in a Truth Social post, thanking Chinese leader Xi Jinping specifically “for working with us and, ultimately, approving the Deal.” Trump add that he hopes “that long into the future I will be remembered by those who use and love TikTok.” The Chinese government has not yet publicly commented on TikTok’s announcement. Earlier on Thursday and ahead of the statement, Liu Pengyu, spokesperson Chinese embassy in Washington, said “China’s position on TikTok has been consistent and clear.” Adam Presser, who previously worked as TikTok’s head of operations and trust and safety, will lead the new venture as its CEO. He will work alongside a seven-member, majority-American board of directors that includes TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew. The deal ends years of uncertainty about the fate of the popular video-sharing platform in the United States. After wide bipartisan majorities in Congress passed — and President Joe Biden signed — a law that would ban TikTok in the US if it did not find a new owner in the place of China’s ByteDance, the platform was set to go dark on the law’s January 2025 deadline. For a several hours, it did. But on his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep it running while his administration sought an agreement for the sale of the company. Apart from an emphasis on data protection, with US user data being stored locally in a system run by Oracle, the joint venture will also focus on TikTok’s algorithm. The content recommendation formula, which feeds users specific videos tailored to their preferences and interests, will be retrained, tested and updated on US user data, the company said in its announcement. The algorithm has been a central issue in the security debate over TikTok. China previously maintained the algorithm must remain under Chinese control by law. But the US regulation passed with bipartisan support said any divestment of TikTok must mean the platform cuts ties — specifically the algorithm — with ByteDance. Under the terms of this deal, ByteDance would license the algorithm to the US entity for retraining. The law prohibits “any cooperation with respect to the operation of a content recommendation algorithm” between ByteDance and a new potential American ownership group, so it is unclear how ByteDance’s continued involvement in this arrangement will play out. “Who controls TikTok in the US has a lot of sway over what Americans see on the app,” said Anupam Chander, a professor of law and technology at Georgetown University. Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX are the three managing investors, each holding a 15 percent share. Other investors include the investment firm of Michael Dell, the billionaire founder of Dell Technologies. ByteDance retains 19.9 percent of the joint venture.
