Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jun 24, 2025

Experts dissected TikTok's algorithm and say a US buyer will struggle to replicate its magic

Anyone who buys TikTok will struggle to replicate the app's magic if the purchase doesn't include its recommendation algorithm, experts say.
Technology experts told Business Insider that TikTok's recommendation algorithm was stronger than those of rivals partly because the company had access to extensive training data. TikTok is thought to be wrangling over whether it can sell its recommendation algorithms to a US buyer as part of a wider deal, thanks to new Chinese rules. "I think you can still replicate a lot of the magic of the algorithm if they were going to give you all the user data and all the video data, but you'd have to be willing to support that entire process," said Eugene Wei, a product expert who wrote a popular blog post analyzing the algorithm.

Any company that buys TikTok may struggle to replicate the video app's magic if it buys the service without its recommendation algorithms, experts tell Business Insider.

The app's parent company, ByteDance, is in negotiations with bidders over the sale of TikTok's US business after President Donald Trump in August threatened to ban the app without a sale. Lead bidders for a deal - perhaps worth as much as $30 billion - include Microsoft, in partnership with Walmart, and Oracle.

But discussions have been slowed by new Chinese rules restricting the export of key services, including algorithms. The upshot is that a US buyer may end up buying TikTok's US arm but only licensing the recommendation algorithm that makes the app so compelling.

"I personally think TikTok wouldn't be TikTok without its algorithm," said Bondy Valdovinos Kaye, a researcher at Queensland University of Technology, who has investigated TikTok.


Employees call TikTok's algorithm its crown jewel


TikTok has charmed about 100 million users in the US, and superficially it isn't that different from YouTube. People upload short videos of themselves doing anything from participating in set challenges to posting comedy skits and memes.

What differentiates the app is its "For You" page, which throws up a beguiling mix of highly shareable short videos. Like YouTube and apps like Netflix, this centers on a system that recommends what users should watch next. What's uncanny about TikTok is how good it is at it.

Valdovinos Kaye visited ByteDance's Beijing offices in 2019, where employees called the algorithm the "crown jewel" of ByteDance's success.

The algorithm was developed as a collaboration between ByteDance's AI Lab and Peking University, Valdovinos Kaye said, and is the secret sauce that powers all ByteDance's software.

Initially developed for Toutiao, ByteDance's news aggregator, it is now used in every version of ByteDance's apps, including Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

"We're yet to see anyone else really successfully master recommendation to the degree they have," said Sabba Keynejad of Veed, a video-editing app that has attempted to reverse engineer the algorithm.

Certainly, ByteDance employs a vast engineering workforce to develop the algorithm.

When Valdovinos Kaye visited the Beijing offices, he was confronted with a multistory office packed with programmers. (TikTok declined an interview request for this story. It did, however, publish a blog post in June providing a high-level explanation of the workings of its algorithm.)


It's more than just the algorithm


Keynejad added that we might be bestowing the algorithm with more influence than it has.

"The algorithm isn't the thing that runs everything, but I think it's a perfect storm," he said. "It's product meets the right time in the market, meets these unengaged teens with this great recommendation engine, and all these themes running through the app."

That's something Eugene Wei, a former product chief at companies including Flipboard and Amazon, agrees with. Wei previously delved into the magic behind TikTok's algorithms in a popular blog post.

"It has really easy-to-use video filters and editing tools combined with an algorithm that puts it in front of a lot of people quickly and gets feedback," he said. "That whole flywheel is connected at every point."

He added: "A lot of people are treating the algorithm by itself as some sort of black magic.

"I don't think it's actually that. Most people who build recommendation engines using machine learning say it's pretty likely the techniques they use are pretty standard."

Nikita Aggarwal of the Oxford Internet Institute added that the algorithm learned from the huge amounts of data that TikTok could draw from.

"It collects potentially more user data from other apps, and so is able to better profile the user and therefore recommend what videos they are more likely to enjoy," she said. She also agrees that the app's design - and its focus on full-screen immersive video - helps improve its popularity.

"Every click reveals a user's preference, to the extent that this gives TikTok more useful information about a user's preference and understanding that is what makes an app big," she says.

The app can also test a user's interests at a scale unimaginable for other platforms such as YouTube.

The short format of TikTok videos - none longer than a minute - means users can rifle through them at a far faster rate than on YouTube, where the average video can be longer than 12 minutes.

"It's harder to do for YouTube because they don't necessarily have an app that is putting a lot of random videos in front of a lot of people," Wei said. "People kind of self-select what they watch on YouTube, which is fine."

TikTok's For You page serves its users hundreds of videos an hour, meaning it can occasionally try videos it's not certain users will like with little effect.

"The feedback only takes a few seconds for me to register how I feel about a video, and because it's full screen, the app can assume that whatever I do reflects my opinion on that video," Wei said.

That real-life data used to hone TikTok's machine-learning algorithm is in turn more powerful than the training data sets other services use.


A buyer will struggle to replicate the algorithm's power


Even if it's a relatively standard algorithm, TikTok's has been well-trained on its nearly 600 million monthly active users — which could prove problematic if the algorithm isn't transferred over through a sale.

"I think you can still replicate a lot of the magic of the algorithm if they were going to give you all the user data and all the video data, but you'd have to be willing to support that entire process," Wei said.

"One of the things that comes up in this context is how you associate the values of the algorithmic system or the algorithm and the data it's trained on," Aggarwal added.

"If it was sold to Microsoft, Microsoft presumably could benefit from the same data, but there are the insights that ByteDance has already acquired from users it's already had or exposed the machine learning algorithm to, and that is valuable.

"The historical training has legacy value, which clearly China recognizes."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Airlines Evaluate Flight Cancellations Amid Escalating US-Iran Tensions
Starmer Invites Innovators to Join Government Talent Scheme
UK Economy’s Strong Opening Quarter Shows Signs of Cooling
Harrods Seeks Court Order to Secure Al Fayed Estate for Victims
BA and Singapore Airlines Cancel Dubai Flights Amid Middle East Tensions
Trump Faces Backlash from MAGA Base Over Iran Strikes
Meta Bets $14 B on Alexandr Wang to Drive AI Ambitions
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
FedEx Founder Fred Smith, ‘Heart and Soul’ of the Company, Dies at 80
Chinese Factories Shift Away from U.S. Amid Trump‑Era Tariffs
Pimco Seizes Opportunity in Japan’s Dislocated Bond Market
Labubu Doll Drives Pop Mart to Status as China’s Most Valuable Toy Maker
Global Coal Demand Defies Paris Accord Goals
We have new information and breaking details to share about what is shaping up to be a historic air campaign tonight
Six Massive Bombs Dropped on Fordow; Trump: 'A Historic Moment for the U.S., Israel, and the World'
Fordow: Deeply Buried Iranian Enrichment Site in U.S.–Israel Crosshairs
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Pakistan to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize.
BBC Demands Perplexity AI Immediately Stop Using Its Content
Telegram Founder: I Will Leave My Fortune to Over 100 of My Children
Political Turmoil Resurfaces in Belgium Amid Economic Concerns
Fed policymakers divided on timing of interest rate cuts
Trump signals imminent agreement with Harvard University
Inheritance tax referendum alarms Swiss billionaire community
Japan cancels bilateral security meeting amid US defence demands
AI skeptic Emily Bender warns that ‘the emperor has no clothes’
Israel Confirms Assassination of Quds Force Commander in Tehran
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
Iranian Military Officers Reportedly Seek Contact with Reza Pahlavi, Signal Intent to Defect
FBI and Senate Investigate Allegations of Chinese Plot to Influence the 2020 Election in Biden’s Favor Using Fake U.S. Driver’s Licenses
Vietnam Emerges as Luxury Yacht Destination for Ultra‑Rich
Plans to Sell Dutch Embassy in Bangkok Face Local Opposition
China's Iranian Oil Imports Face Disruption Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions
Trump's $5 Million 'Trump Card' Visa Program Draws Nearly 70,000 Applicants
DGCA Finds No Major Safety Concerns in Air India's Boeing 787 Fleet
Airlines Reroute Flights Amid Expanding Middle East Conflict Zones
Elon Musk's xAI Seeks $9.3 Billion in Funding Amid AI Expansion
Trump Demands Iran's Unconditional Surrender Amid Escalating Conflict
Israeli Airstrike Targets Iranian State TV in Central Tehran
President Trump is leaving the G7 summit early and has ordered the National Security Council to the Situation Room
Taiwan Imposes Export Ban on Chips to Huawei and SMIC
Israel has just announced plans to strike Tehran again, and in response, Trump has urged people to evacuate
Netanyahu Signals Potential Regime Change in Iran
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
EU Proposes Ban on New Russian Gas Contracts
Analysts Warn Iran May Resort to Unconventional Warfare
Iranian Regime Faces Existential Threat Amid Conflict
Energy Infrastructure Becomes War Zone in Middle East
×