TikTok Whistleblowers Raise Alarm Over China's Access to US Citizens' Data

upstart writes:

TikTok whistleblowers raise alarm over China's access to US citizens' data:

A former recruiter at TikTok said that ByteDance, the Beijing company that owns TikTok, maintains strong control over TikTok. Her story was corroborated by four other employees, who expressed concerns about the use of the platform as it has access to the user data of Americans.

The Trump administration wanted to ban TikTok over national security concerns due to the platform's Chinese ownership, with former President Trump signing an order to that effect. The alternative to the ban was the social media platform finding a US buyer.

Chinese companies could legally be forced by the government to hand over user data under the guise of assisting the government with intelligence work. TikTok maintains that it has never provided user data to the Chinese government, nor would we do so if asked."

One of the former employees interviewed by CNBC said that ByteDance has access to US user data. The source said that when a US-based TikTok employee wanted to get data on what content users interacted with, they had to contact a data team in China, who pulled up whatever information TikTok had on the specific users. Another former employee said that was a common occurrence.

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