TikTok Admits It Used App Data To Spy On Journalists To Try To Find Source Of Leak
Back in June we wrote about a blockbuster article in Buzzfeed by Emily Baker-White detailing how ByteDance engineers in China were still accessing data on US TikTok users. That was notable, given that ByteDance had signed this big deal with Oracle, while former President Trump held a proverbial gun to its head, to try to separate out its US data and keep it separate. It's also still not entirely clear what Oracle is really doing with regards to TikTok, as each announcement seems less and less informative.
Either way, in October, we again wrote about another story by Baker-White, now at Forbes, talking about how ByteDance appeared to use TikTok data to try to spy on certain US citizens, though the details were vague. As we said at the time, this seemed like the sort of thing that should spur people to pass a comprehensive federal privacy law, not that that's happened. Instead, we've just been getting more and more performative nonsense focused exclusively on TikTok, rather than on the underlying problem.
Now, Baker-White has the third piece in this trilogy that ties them all together. Apparently one of the US citizens ByteDance was trying to spy on... was Baker-White herself, and it was because of the original Buzzfeed article, as the company sought to track down how the initial info was leaked. It's quite a story and you should read the whole thing, though here's just a snippet.
According to materials reviewed by Forbes, ByteDance tracked multiple Forbes journalists as part of this covert surveillance campaign, which was designed to unearth the source of leaks inside the company following a drumbeat of stories exposing the company's ongoing links to China. As a result of the investigation into the surveillance tactics, ByteDance fired Chris Lepitak, its chief internal auditor who led the team responsible for them. The China-based executive Song Ye, who Lepitak reported to and who reports directly to ByteDance CEO Rubo Liang, resigned.
I was deeply disappointed when I was notified of the situation... and I'm sure you feel the same," Liang wrote in an internal email shared with Forbes. The public trust that we have spent huge efforts building is going to be significantly undermined by the misconduct of a few individuals. ... I believe this situation will serve as a lesson to us all."
This is all pretty stunning, but also not entirely unique. Nearly a decade ago, there was a scandal at Uber when a top exec outlined a plan to spy on journalists critical of the company. Or you may recall the eBay security execs (some of whom recently plead guilty) who spent years stalking a journalist that they felt was too critical of the company. Or there are plenty of stories of Elon Musk's Twitter going to war with journalists and whistleblowers who leaked embarrassing info to journalists.
That is to say, it's unfortunate, but true, that tech companies have a bit of a history attacking critical journalists, and abusing their own access to data to do so. It's very, very bad, and it should not be allowed, but (once again), it's not unique to TikTok, nor will any solution focused solely on TikTok do anything to solve" this issue.
It is certainly yet another frightening example, though, and it remains ridiculous that this is how any company responds to a little critical press coverage. Tech execs need to realize that the press covers them critically. It's how things work.