Maybe it actually wouldn’t be SO bad if TikTok’s video-recommendation engine doesn’t come along with a possible sale.
The ink is dry on the «TikTok ban» bill, and there’s already talk about what a forced sale could look like: Would TikTok’s owners agree to sell? And if so, would they strip out the addicting and seemingly all-knowing algorithm first?
TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, is already considering selling the app without its algorithm, The Information reported Thursday. (ByteDance denied this.)
The idea of TikTok being sold without the secret sauce that makes its «For You» pages might seem like a disaster for a new owner. Like buying a Ferrari without an engine — you’d just have a red car and some nice leather seats.
But … what if that’s not exactly true? What if the TikTok algorithm doesn’t really matter that much?The magic of TikTok’s ‘For You’ page
TikTok’s «For You» page seemed mind-blowing and mysterious back in 2020. It showed something radically different from the recommendation feeds of other social platforms like Instagram.
Instead of relying on you following certain accounts, it quickly tailored a feed to you based on actions other than who you followed. It considered things like how long you lingered on a certain video. Watching a lot of videos with cows eating grass in a field? Expect to be served up a lot more of that.
