A deal in the works between the U.S. and China over the ownership of TikTok could include a licensing agreement for the closely guarded secret of the social media company's algorithm, to which access has proved a major sticking point in negotiations between the countries.

The Chinese government once vowed to block the sale of TikTok's algorithm, the technology that seems to intuit user preferences almost instantaneously and that has been a driving force for the video-sharing app's explosive growth in recent years.

Previously, TikTok had also seemed unwilling to budge. In May, when the platform was challenging a 2024 law banning TikTok in the U.S., the company said in a legal filing that "divesting TikTok Inc.'s U.S. business and completely severing it from the globally inte

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