Oracle has begun testing TikTok’s content moderation models and algorithms for potential manipulation by Chinese authorities. Axios is the author of this.
Oracle, according to the report, wants to make sure that TikTok’s content display “meets user expectations” and that the suggested algorithms are not manipulated. The video service will also routinely audit its manual and automated systems for moderation.
The information from the Axios report was verified on TikTok
Over the past few years, there has been debate surrounding the platform’s content moderation. The Beijing office frequently instructed American employees to limit certain videos, according to a 2019 report in The Washington Post.
Part of ByteDance’s internal documents were published by The Guardian in the same year. They claimed that Beijing ordered moderators to censor videos that addressed sensitive subjects like Tiananmen Square, Tibet’s independence, the outlawed Falun Gong religious sect, and others.
TikTok in 2020
TikTok moderators reportedly received orders to censor political speeches during live broadcasts in 2020, according to The Intercept. Additionally, they were required to block messages from “undesirable users,” such as those who were ugly, poor, or disabled.
All claims were refuted by ByteDance, which also claimed that American moderators had not been given such instructions.
However, a BuzzFeed News investigation in June 2022 revealed TikTok’s close ties to the Beijing government. Journalists discovered that workers in China had repeatedly accessed the data of US citizens.
Then TikTok announced that all American traffic would be diverted to the Oracle cloud infrastructure. Representatives of the video service claim that this will shield American users’ data from “prying eyes”.
Before, the former US administration of Donald Trump attempted to pressure ByteDance into selling TikTok to a US-based business. Otherwise, the platform might be restricted in the US.
TikTok in February 2021
ByteDance consented to sell Oracle’s American operations. The deal’s terms had previously been agreed upon by the parties, but it was abandoned in February 2021.
Remember how the hacker collective Anonymous accused TikTok of mass user surveillance and data transmission to Chinese authorities in July 2020?
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