Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, has launched a website to explain its recommendation and moderation algorithms, coinciding with increased scrutiny from Chinese regulators.

The website, 95152.douyin.com, explains how Douyin’s algorithms predict user preferences by analyzing interactions such as likes, shares, follows, and time spent viewing content.

It describes the recommendation system as a “mathematical modeling process” that finds correlations between user behavior and content characteristics.

This move is part of a broader push by platforms like Kuaishou and Tencent to improve transparency in algorithm operations following a campaign by China’s Cyberspace Administration to prevent algorithm misuse.

During the recent China Internet Media Forum, executives from major Chinese platforms committed to enhancing their algorithms.

Douyin president Han Shangyou noted that the app’s system doesn’t rely on traditional content or user labeling methods.

Recent Douyin developments