The War Over TikTok: How A Viral Algorithm Became A Global National Security Threat

Key Concepts

• AI Startup Funding: Significant investments in artificial intelligence companies, leading to high valuations and the creation of new billionaires.
• E-commerce and Celebrity Brands: The financial success of celebrity-backed businesses, demonstrating their market value and impact on personal fortunes.
• Space Exploration Competition: The rivalry between billionaire-funded space companies, driving innovation and technological advancements.
• TikTok's Origins and Growth: The evolution of TikTok from its Chinese roots as a news aggregator to a global social media phenomenon.
• Recommendation Algorithms: The sophisticated systems that personalize content delivery on platforms like TikTok, influencing user engagement and platform success.
• Data Privacy and National Security Concerns: The potential risks associated with user data being accessible to foreign governments, particularly in the context of Chinese-owned technology companies.
• Project Texas: TikTok's internal initiative to address data security concerns by rebuilding its infrastructure to limit Chinese access to U.S. user data.
• Employee Shakedown Problem: The risk of authoritarian governments compelling companies to hand over data, posing a national security threat.
• Reporter Surveillance: Allegations and confirmed instances of tech companies using their platforms to track journalists investigating them.
• Government Bans and Legislation: The political and legal battles surrounding potential bans of social media platforms due to national security concerns.
• Bipartisan Consensus: The rare agreement between political parties on the need to address national security risks posed by certain foreign-owned technology.
• Algorithm Control and Data Flow: The core issues in negotiations and legislation concerning TikTok's ownership and data management.
• International Trade Negotiations: The integration of technology-related issues, such as TikTok's ownership, into broader diplomatic and trade discussions between countries.

Billionaire News and Tech Investments

• AnySphere Funding: The AI startup Anyphere, creator of the AI coding tool Cursor, secured $2.3 billion in funding, valuing the company at $29.3 billion. This funding round has made its four co-founders—Michael Trroll, Aman Sanger, Sule Aif, and Arvid Lunar—new billionaires, each with an estimated net worth of at least $1.3 billion. All four founders are under 30 and are alumni of Forbes's 30 Under 30 list.
• Skims Valuation: Kim Kardashian's apparel company, Skims, raised $225 million, increasing its valuation to $5 billion. This funding added $200 million to Kardashian's net worth, bringing her estimated total to $1.9 billion. This round followed Skims' acquisition of Cody's 20% stake in its skincare line, "SKIMS by Kim Kardashian," for an undisclosed sum.
• Blue Origin's New Glenn Rocket: Jeff Bezos's space company, Blue Origin, successfully launched its New Glenn rocket for the second time. The company also successfully recovered the rocket's booster, a feat previously achieved only by SpaceX. This development intensifies the competition between the two billionaire-backed aerospace firms.

Emily Baker White's Background and Journalism Career

• Transition from Law to Tech Policy: Emily Baker White began her career as a lawyer, where she encountered public-facing Facebook posts by police officers that raised questions about public trust. This led her to create the "Plane View Project," an interactive database of police officers' public Facebook posts.
• Focus on Big Tech's Influence: Her work on the Plane View Project sparked an obsession with how companies like Facebook shaped public discourse. She subsequently worked in policy departments at Facebook and Spotify.
• Shift to Journalism: Dissatisfied with working in service of big tech companies, Baker White transitioned to journalism to serve the public interest. She began her journalism career at BuzzFeed News before moving to Forbes, where she covers technology.
• Reporting on TikTok: Baker White's initial reporting on TikTok began at BuzzFeed in early 2022. She interviewed former employees to understand the company's internal workings and future plans.

TikTok's Origins and Evolution

• Project Texas: During her early reporting, Baker White learned about "Project Texas," an internal TikTok initiative aimed at rebuilding its infrastructure to reduce the accessibility of U.S. user data to employees in China.
• ByteDance and Founder Zhang Yiming: ByteDance was founded in 2012 by Zhang Yiming, a technologist with a belief in the power of algorithms to enhance efficiency.
• Early Success with Jinri Toutiao: ByteDance's first major success was not TikTok, but "Jinri Toutiao" (Today's Headlines), a news aggregator app that provided algorithmically personalized news feeds. This concept faced initial resistance from the Chinese government, which had its own interests in news curation.
• Vertical Video and Douyin: ByteDance then ventured into "vertical video," content designed for mobile consumption. Their successful Chinese app in this space was "Douyin," the precursor to TikTok.
• Internationalization Efforts: Zhang Yiming aimed to internationalize ByteDance's empire. An early attempt was "Top Buzz," an international clone of Jinri Toutiao, which did not achieve significant success in the U.S. due to cultural and reporting differences. Vertical video, being more entertainment-focused, proved easier to internationalize.
• Acquisition of Musical.ly and Flipagram: TikTok, as known internationally, originated from ByteDance acquiring two U.S. apps: Flipagram and Musical.ly. Both were popular with a young demographic (primarily 13-year-old girls) for lip-syncing and dancing. Musical.ly was ultimately merged into TikTok.
• Diversifying Content: A key challenge for ByteDance was transforming TikTok from a niche app for teens into a platform for "everyone and everything." This involved manually boosting diverse content to attract a broader audience.
• COVID-19 Pandemic Boom: TikTok's popularity exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. As people were confined to their homes and tired of existing platforms, TikTok's short, silly, and often absurdist content provided a refreshing escape, leading to significant growth, particularly among users over 25.

The Algorithm and User Data

• Revealed vs. Stated Preferences: A key differentiator for TikTok's algorithm is its reliance on "revealed preferences" (user behavior) rather than "stated preferences" (explicitly followed accounts or liked pages).
• Data Signals: TikTok tracks user interactions, such as watch time, swipes, and shares, to understand user interests. This allows the algorithm to make highly accurate recommendations, sometimes leading to uncanny predictions about users' identities or experiences.
• "Creepy" Accuracy: The algorithm's ability to predict user traits (e.g., sexual orientation, pregnancy) before users explicitly state them has led to perceptions of it being "creepy," but it stems from its deep analysis of user behavior.

National Security Concerns and Government Scrutiny

• Shift in Public Perception: While initially seen as a harmless entertainment app, TikTok's massive growth and influence on discourse, culture, and commerce led to increased scrutiny regarding its ownership and potential national security risks.
• The "Employee Shakedown Problem": Baker White highlights the risk posed by China's authoritarian government, which can compel companies to hand over data without due process. This is a significant concern for ByteDance, a Chinese company.
• Value of Aggregate Data: Even if individual user data (like dancing or cat videos) seems trivial, the sheer volume of aggregate data collected by TikTok is valuable to the Chinese government for understanding American public sentiment and trends.
• Potential for Blackmail: U.S. intelligence agencies worried that youthful indiscretions captured on TikTok could be used for blackmail against individuals applying for sensitive government roles in the future.
• Targeting Vulnerable Groups: The data held by TikTok could pose a serious threat to dissidents, individuals with family in China, members of the U.S. military, intelligence agencies, and minority groups who have sought refuge in the U.S.

Project Texas and Data Access Issues

• Rebuilding Infrastructure: Project Texas was TikTok's attempt to address these concerns by rebuilding its systems to ensure U.S. user data was not accessible in China.
• Complexity of Data Flow: Baker White explains that modern consumer apps rely on hundreds of internal tools for data transfer. Untangling these complex interdependencies, as described by Brian Stelter as "untangling a plate of spaghetti," was a monumental task for TikTok.
• Lack of Institutional Knowledge: Some code components were obscure, with engineers who wrote them having left the company, making it difficult to disable them without risking system failure. This lack of clear institutional knowledge complicated efforts to fully sever data access points.

Reporter Surveillance Incident

• Tracking IP Addresses: Baker White and other reporters discovered that TikTok and ByteDance had planned to use the TikTok app on their phones to track their IP addresses.
• Convergence of IP Addresses: The goal was to compare reporters' IP addresses with those of TikTok and ByteDance employees to identify potential leaks and determine who was communicating with journalists.
• Internal Investigation and Firings: After Baker White reported on this plan, TikTok and ByteDance conducted an investigation (led by the law firm Covington & Burling) which confirmed the surveillance had occurred. The company stated that a small number of employees in a leak investigation department were fired for making "very poor decisions."
• Impact on Baker White: Baker White subsequently removed the TikTok app from her phone and has not used it since. She expressed disappointment rather than fear, noting that the incident inadvertently validated concerns about TikTok's potential for surveillance.

Legislative and Political Battles Over TikTok

• Early Calls for a Ban: Concerns about TikTok as a national security threat, particularly from Republican "China hawks" like Marco Rubio, existed as early as 2019.
• Trump Administration's Attempted Ban: President Donald Trump attempted to ban TikTok under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), but this was blocked by courts due to free speech protections.
• Biden Administration's Negotiation and Proposed Sale: The Biden administration spent approximately 18-24 months negotiating with TikTok, seeking assurances about data security through initiatives like Project Texas. However, they ultimately deemed these efforts insufficient.
• The "Sell or Ban" Mandate: In early 2023, the Biden administration concluded that the only viable solution was for ByteDance to sell TikTok.
• Chinese Government's Role: The Chinese government's refusal to approve the sale of TikTok's recommendation algorithm in 2020 (when Trump first attempted a ban) demonstrated their ultimate control over such transactions.
• Bipartisan Legislation: In April 2024, a bipartisan bill was passed, giving ByteDance 270 days to sell TikTok or face a ban in the U.S.
• Trump's Shifting Stance: Donald Trump's position on TikTok evolved. In 2020, he was angered by a prank that impacted his rally attendance. By 2024, he viewed TikTok as beneficial for his re-election campaign, citing his popularity on the platform and its subtle flattery.
• Trump's Suspension of the Ban: Upon his return to power, Trump instructed his Department of Justice not to enforce the TikTok ban law, effectively suspending it. This action was seen as unprecedented, as a law was passed and then immediately not enforced.
• Current Deal Framework: Reports suggest a framework deal has been reached between the U.S. and Chinese governments, potentially involving a sale of TikTok's U.S. business to a consortium of U.S. investors, including figures like Larry Ellison and Rupert Murdoch.
• Algorithm Licensing and Revenue Share: Crucially, the algorithm is reportedly not part of the sale. ByteDance would license the algorithm to the U.S. entity, and ByteDance would receive a revenue share. ByteDance would also retain control over advertising and e-commerce, raising questions about the extent of the separation.
• Oracle's Role: Oracle has a history with Project Texas, storing U.S. user data in its data centers and acting as a gatekeeper. This arrangement is likely to be a component of any new deal.

Future Outlook and Reporting Focus

• Uncertainty of the Deal: Baker White emphasizes that the deal framework is not yet finalized, and there is still time for it to fall apart. The exact details of any executed contract remain unknown.
• ByteDance's Patience Strategy: ByteDance has adopted a patient approach, continuing operations and waiting for enforcement actions. This strategy has served them well historically.
• Ongoing Reporting: Baker White continues to monitor the situation closely, focusing on the execution of any deal and the transparency of the terms. She advises TikTok users and interested parties to stay informed as the situation develops.