Is TikTok surrendering before USA?

A report from Reuters suggests that TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance is splitting its source code to create US-only algorithm after losing a legal battle in the country.

The report from Reuters claims that work has been ongoing since last year. The move would allow TikTok to operate independently from Douyin.

According to the unnamed sources, completing the project could take more than a year as part of a plan to show lawmakers that the US business is independent of its owner in Beijing.

However, TikTok in a tweet termed the report “misleading and factually inaccurate”

“While we have continued work in good faith to further safeguard the authenticity of the TikTok experience, it is simply false to suggest that this work would facilitate divestiture or that divestiture is even a possibility,” and when asked if the code is being split, responded that is “100 percent false,” TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes told The Verge.

TikTok has tried to convince lawmakers of its US independence before, with the “Project Texas” data silo that it described as “an unprecedented initiative dedicated to making every American on TikTok feel safe, with confidence that their data is secure and the platform is free from outside influence.”

The social platform is already suing the US government over the law that gives its parent until January 19th, 2025, to pass control of the app to someone else or face a ban.

According to Reuters unnamed sources, there’s no plan to separate the companies; however, “once the code is split, it could lay the groundwork for a divestiture of the U.S. assets.”