As the future of most apps starts to look brighter in the US, the same unfortunately can’t be said about TikTok. While TikTok has managed to gain an incredible amount of fame over the past two years, a recent investigation has found that the app and its parent company, ByteDance, have committed another atrocity, further adding to its mounting pile of controversies and accusations. This most recent claim says that ByteDance had been spying on several American journalists that had interacted with ByteDance staff, gaining access to commercially sensitive information.
As the Financial Times reports:
“Over the summer, four employees on the ByteDance internal audit team looked into the sharing of internal information to journalists. Two members of staff in the US and two in China gained access to the IP addresses and other personal data of FT journalist Cristina Criddle, to work out if she was in the proximity of any ByteDance employees, the company said.”
The Financial Times reports that a BuzzFeed journalist and several other users connected to these reporters through TikTok were also targeted, which only helps muddy the app’s reputation.
A Very Sticky Situation Now
This doesn’t bode very well for TikTok’s user privacy, while it also goes against press freedom, opposing the app’s many public statements in regards to how its Chinese staff access US user info. TikTok, which remains under investigation by the Committee for Foreign Investment (CFIUS) over its potential linkage to the CCP, has repeatedly pledged that US user information isn’t being shared with China-based staff.
What’s more, back in September, TikTok COO Vanessa Pappas testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee that the company has a series of robust cybersecurity controls and authorization approval protocols’ in place to limit internal data access as it continues to work on its advanced data protections. When questioned further, Pappas also denied allegations that US user data had been repeatedly accessed by China-based staff, going on to detail how TikTok’s ongoing partnership with Oracle and the US Government looks to establish new systems and control parameters to diffuse concerns around the app being used as a data gathering tool by the Chinese Government. Such has been the primary issue raised by most of the major regulatory and security authorities in the US who also heavily speculate based on the CCP’s compliance provisions.
While no definitive evidence exists of CCP officials either asking for or blatantly accessing TikTok user data, which is owned from the app’s Chinese audience info under Douyin. Technically, however, TikTok could indeed be used as a spy app of sorts for users in countries where the app is active.
This is the reason why TikTok has been back and forth with the CFIUS for months. This week, Reutersreported that such a deal could be close, with TikTok spending over $1.5 billion on reorganization and hiring efforts to address key concerns. Now, these provisions could be well out the window, with TikTok looking at a full sell-off into US ownership, lest it face a ban in the region.
The Wrap
Basically, what this new case tells us is that TikTok can indeed be used as a form of spyware and that ByteDance, in line with Chinese cyber laws, didn’t really see anything wrong with the fact. Will that be the end of TikTok? Well, maybe not, as a range of major changes could still see the app operational in the US. Either way, what we can all be sure of is that it’ll be a long and discussion-filled journey before a final decision is made.
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