Chinese ByteDance admits to using TikTok data to track journalists

Chinese ByteDance admits to using TikTok data to track journalists

Chinese ByteDance admits to using TikTok data to track journalists : TikTok has done its best to convince users and governments in major markets like the US that user data privacy is protected.
BEIJING: Employees of Chinese technology company ByteDance improperly accessed data from social media platform TikTok to track journalists in an effort to identify the source of media leaks, the company admitted on Friday.

TikTok has gone to great lengths to convince users and governments in major markets like the US that user data privacy is safe and poses no threat to national security.
But parent company ByteDance told AFP on Friday that several employees had accessed the two journalists’ data as part of an internal investigation into the company’s media leaks.

According to an email from ByteDance general counsel Eric Anderson seen by AFP, he was hoping to identify links between staff and a Financial Times reporter and a former BuzzFeed journalist.

Both journalists had previously reported on the company’s leaked content.

Anderson said none of the employees involved continue to work at Bite Dance, but he did not say how many were fired.

In a statement to AFP, ByteDance said it condemned the “misleading effort that seriously violated the company’s code of conduct”.

The employees obtained the journalists’ IP addresses to determine whether they were at the location of ByteDance colleagues, who were suspected of leaking sensitive information. According to Anderson, attorneys.

But the plan failed, in part because IP addresses only show approximate location data.

TikTok is in the headlines again in the US as Congress prepares to impose a nationwide ban on the popular short video app on government devices due to perceived security risks.

The House of Representatives could pass a law this week that would ban the use of TikTok on the business phones of government officials, a move that would impose restrictions in about 20 US states.

TikTok tried to convince US authorities that US data was safe and secure on servers in the country.

But after media reports the company also acknowledged that employees based in China had access to US user data, although it insisted it was under very limited and strict conditions.