China Announces Plans To Regulate Algorithms Tech Companies Use

A lot of technology today relies on algorithms. We can see this in social media where posts from people we interact with more tend to be shown at the top. This is under the assumption that since we interact with it, we want to see more of it. Then we also see how algorithms are used to help display relevant ads while shopping.

All of this is designed in a way to get us to spend more time or more money on a platform, but apparently that’s something China’s government doesn’t want. So much so that the Cyberspace Administration of China has announced that in the next three years, they want to set up governance rules for algorithms that tech companies use to attract users.

According to the CAC, they say that algorithms developed by these firms should uphold the core values of socialism and that they should also be developed with safety and responsibility in mind. Back in August, the CAC had actually issued draft guidelines in which some proposals suggested that companies shouldn’t use algorithm models to entice customers to spend more money.

China isn’t alone when it comes to trying to regulate algorithms. The US government and the EU have also called on tech companies to tweak the algorithms they use to tackle the problem of fake news.

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: AI (Artificial Intelligence), China