Mashable: Algorithms used in the tech industry are closely guarded, and they have been at the center of political fights all over the world.

Tencent Holdings and ByteDance, two of China's biggest internet companies, have shared details of their prized algorithms with Beijing for the first time. This is a first-of-its-kind move meant to stop data abuse, but it could end up exposing closely guarded corporate secrets.

On Friday, the Internet watchdog put out a list of 30 algorithms that companies like Alibaba Group and Meituan use to collect information about users, make personalized recommendations, and serve content. Even though the public list didn't show the actual code, it wasn't clear how much internet companies may have told regulators in private about the software that runs their sites.

People think of the algorithms that decide which TikTok videos, WeChat posts, and Instagram photos users see as the "secret sauce" of many online services because they are so important to getting users' attention and growing the service. China passed rules in March that require internet companies to tell people about these kinds of tools. This was done in response to complaints about data abuse, and it also helps regulators keep internet companies on a tighter leash.

Algorithms used in the tech industry are closely guarded, and they have been at the center of political fights all over the world. This makes China different from places like the US, where companies like Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc. have successfully argued that algorithms are trade secrets, even though lawmakers and activists want to learn more about how they choose what content to show and how they handle data.

Zhai Wei, the executive director of the Competition Law Research Center at East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, said, "No one has ever had access to this kind of information before." "The algorithms of tech companies are the most important business secrets that show what they are good at."

Zhai said that although the Cyberspace Administration of China now only needs basic information from the firms, it may ask for additional specifics in the future to investigate complaints of data abuses. A lawyer at Beijing Yingke's Hangzhou office, Ding Mengdan, said that the list's release shows that the implementation process is going well.

China has been increasing oversight to limit the growth of its internet titans, which had previously been allowed to flourish uncontrolled. Last year, the country passed the Personal Information Protection Law and the Data Security Law, which make it harder for companies to use user data in the wrong way.

The public list of algorithms provides brief explanations of how they function and where they might be utilized. ByteDance's technology can determine what a user loves and dislikes to propose content on applications like Douyin, the Chinese counterpart of TikTok. Meituan's algorithms distribute orders to riders during their idle time and along their most direct path.

Companies must give the CAC with sensitive information such as an evaluation of their algorithms' security, the sorts of data they collect (including if it contains personally identifiable information), and the data sources from which they train their algorithms. The CAC issued the suggestions alongside the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Administration for Market Regulation.

Since "the material supplied by the businesses to the CAC is significantly more detailed than what was disclosed" and "some trade secrets" are implicated, Zhai claimed this information cannot be made public.