An exclusive excerpt from Every Screen On The Planet reveals how the social media app’s powerful recommendation engine was shaped by a bunch of ordinary, twentysomething curators—including a guy named Jorge.

On Threads, the algorithm-configuration feature is tied to Instagram’s larger efforts to revamp its main app to emphasize Reels and recommendations. Instagram announced Wednesday that it will soon allow users to more directly control the app’s algorithm by choosing which topics they’d like to see more or less of in their feeds.

A rumored split between TikTok’s algorithm in the United States and the computer code running the app elsewhere could put off users—and destroy TikTok’s secret sauce.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she was "100% confident" the deal between the U.S. and China is finalized.

With a change of ownership in the works, TikTok’s algorithm – the secret sauce of its success – is going to be reset for US users. What differences users will see is unclear, but changes are coming.

TikTok's algorithm is the "secret sauce" behind the app's success, experts say. U.S.-China talks over the app's ownership must resolve who controls the technology.

In the United States, TikTok will be operated by a board of directors with national security and cybersecurity credentials, one of the senior officials said. ByteDance will choose one director on the seven-member board, and that person will be excluded from TikTok’s security committee.

Washington and Beijing’s TikTok deal will hand ByteDance roughly 50 per cent of the app’s American profits despite US shareholders owning the majority of the business, according to people familiar with the talks.