TikTok denies ByteDance planned to use the app to track individuals in the US
TikTok said it does not collect precise GPS location information from users in the United States, which means it cannot be used to monitor people "in the manner suggested by [< em>Forbes". The app's communications team tweeted that in response to a Forbes article claiming that a China-based team from its parent company, ByteDance, planned to use the app to track "the personal location of specific US citizens." It is unclear whether any information about these people was actually collected.
Forbes reported that the team behind the monitoring project is part of ByteDance's internal audit and risk control department. The division is generally responsible for investigating potential misconduct by current and former employees of the company. But the publication said the group intended to use TikTok to collect location data from a US citizen who had never been employed by the company in at least two instances.
TikTok hit back at the publication's claims, accusing Forbes of omitting the part of its statement where it says it does not collect accurate GPS locations. This part "disproved the feasibility of the main claim [of the article]", he explained. Additionally, TikTok stressed that it has never been used to target members of the US government, public figures, activists and journalists and does not serve them content that is different from other users. In its report, Forbes wrote that TikTok "failed to respond to questions" about whether ByteDance's internal audit team was targeting members of these groups.
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As Forbes notes, TikTok had previously made promises to US authorities and lawmakers in an attempt to allay their fears that China could use the app against US citizens. In June, TikTok announced that it had "changed the default storage location for US user data" to "Oracle cloud servers located in the United States". The service made the announcement just as BuzzFeed News published a report about China-based ByteDance employees repeatedly accessing non-public data about TikTok users in the United States. This report was based on internal meeting times that were leaked to publication.
A few weeks later, TikTok detailed its plans for how to keep US users' data safe in a letter sent to lawmakers. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew assured them that the company "will remove US users' protected data from [its] own systems and fully switch to Oracle cloud servers located in the US." Forbes spoke to an Oracle spokesperson who said that although TikTok currently uses its cloud services, Oracle has no idea what it is doing and that the service has always full control of all its information.
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TikTok said it does not collect precise GPS location information from users in the United States, which means it cannot be used to monitor people "in the manner suggested by [< em>Forbes". The app's communications team tweeted that in response to a Forbes article claiming that a China-based team from its parent company, ByteDance, planned to use the app to track "the personal location of specific US citizens." It is unclear whether any information about these people was actually collected.
Forbes reported that the team behind the monitoring project is part of ByteDance's internal audit and risk control department. The division is generally responsible for investigating potential misconduct by current and former employees of the company. But the publication said the group intended to use TikTok to collect location data from a US citizen who had never been employed by the company in at least two instances.
TikTok hit back at the publication's claims, accusing Forbes of omitting the part of its statement where it says it does not collect accurate GPS locations. This part "disproved the feasibility of the main claim [of the article]", he explained. Additionally, TikTok stressed that it has never been used to target members of the US government, public figures, activists and journalists and does not serve them content that is different from other users. In its report, Forbes wrote that TikTok "failed to respond to questions" about whether ByteDance's internal audit team was targeting members of these groups.
I
This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here, then reload the page to see it.
As Forbes notes, TikTok had previously made promises to US authorities and lawmakers in an attempt to allay their fears that China could use the app against US citizens. In June, TikTok announced that it had "changed the default storage location for US user data" to "Oracle cloud servers located in the United States". The service made the announcement just as BuzzFeed News published a report about China-based ByteDance employees repeatedly accessing non-public data about TikTok users in the United States. This report was based on internal meeting times that were leaked to publication.
A few weeks later, TikTok detailed its plans for how to keep US users' data safe in a letter sent to lawmakers. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew assured them that the company "will remove US users' protected data from [its] own systems and fully switch to Oracle cloud servers located in the US." Forbes spoke to an Oracle spokesperson who said that although TikTok currently uses its cloud services, Oracle has no idea what it is doing and that the service has always full control of all its information.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate...
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