07:33 AM EDT, 05/31/2024 (MT Newswires) -- TikTok is working on a copy of its recommendation algorithm that could result in a version that operates independently of its Chinese parent and be more acceptable to US lawmakers who want to ban the social media platform, Reuters reported Thursday, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Engineers from TikTok and its Chinese parent ByteDance have been ordered to create a separate code base that is independent of systems used by Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, while eliminating any information linking to Chinese users, Reuters said.

The move is an effort to show that TikTok's US operations are independent of its Chinese owner, although it would be cut off from the massive engineering power of ByteDance that it heavily relies on, according to Reuters.

TikTok said in a post on X said that the Reuters story was "misleading and factually inaccurate," without specifying what was inaccurate.

"As we said in our court filing," TikTok also said in the post, "the 'qualified divestiture' demanded by the Act to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally. And certainly not on the 270-day timeline required by the Act," referring to a recently signed law that would force the company to sell its US assets.

(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)

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