TikTok is owned by a Chinese based AI company called ByteDance. Just about every Chinese company like this is owned or controlled by the government. So when you go on TikTok, China has your data saying there are actual concerns here about American data and China being able to potentially manipulate the algorithm.
Politicians across the United States are calling for an outright ban on the popular social media platform. Alex Heath, deputy editor at The Verge, explains how TikTok hopes to pre-empt one from ever passing.
This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard with help from Haleema Shah, engineered by Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
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