Oracle has launched a review of TikTok content moderation algorithms and models for manipulation by Chinese authorities. Axios writes about it.

According to the report, Oracle wants to make sure that viewing content on TikTok “meets” users’ expectations and that their recommendation algorithms are not manipulated. In addition, the video service will regularly check its inspection methods, including automatic and manual systems.

TikTok has confirmed the information from the Axios report.

Content moderation on the site has been a controversial topic for the past few years. In 2019, The Washington Post reported that the Beijing office frequently ordered US employees to restrict certain videos.

That same year, The Guardian published a portion of ByteDance’s internal documentation. According to them, Beijing has asked the moderators to censor videos that talk about Tiananmen Square, Tibetan independence, the banned religious group Falun Gong, and other sensitive topics.

In 2020, The Intercept reported that TikTok moderators were ordered to censor live political speech. Also “unwanted users” – unattractive, poor or disabled people were ordered to block their messages.

ByteDance denied all allegations and stated that American moderators did not receive such instructions.

However, a BuzzFeed News investigation from June 2022 proved TikTok’s close connection with Beijing authorities. Journalists found that data on US citizens was repeatedly accessed by employees in China.

Following that, TikTok announced that all traffic in the United States was transferred to the infrastructure of the Oracle cloud service. According to representatives of the video service, this will protect the data of American users from “prying eyes.”

Previously, the administration of former US President Donald Trump tried to force ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American company. Otherwise, the platform may be blocked in the United States.

ByteDance has agreed to sell the US portion of Oracle’s business. The companies had previously agreed on the terms of the deal, but in February 2021 the deal broke down.

Recall that in July 2020, the hacker group Anonymous accused TikTok of mass-monitoring users and transferring data to Chinese authorities.