TikTok admits certain China-based staff can access U.S. user data

• TikTok admits certain China-based staff can access U.S. user data.
• The video-sharing app is owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd.
• TikTok says this information is subject to strong cybersecurity procedures and is not shared with the Chinese government.

TikTok, a video-sharing app owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd., disclosed that select staff outside the U.S. have access to information about American users, sparking additional criticism from politicians who have expressed concerns about the social network’s data-sharing practises.

The revelation was made in a letter to nine U.S. senators who accused TikTok and its parent firm of tracking U.S. residents and requested answers to what has been a recurring line of inquiry for the corporation. Do Chinese personnel have access to the data of American users? What role do these employees play in shaping the algorithm used by TikTok? Are any of these details communicated to the Chinese government?

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Currently, China-based employees who pass a variety of internal security measures can access specific information on TikTok’s U.S. users, including public videos and comments, according to a letter dated 30 June obtained by Bloomberg News. He stated that none of this information is shared with the Chinese government and that it is subject to “strong cybersecurity procedures.”

The social network stated that it is collaborating with the U.S. government to enhance the data protection surrounding this material, particularly anything deemed “protected” by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS. This latest initiative, dubbed “Project Texas,” involves physically storing U.S. data in data centres on U.S. servers owned by software titan Oracle Corp. TikTok is also migrating its platform to Oracle’s cloud infrastructure, which will allow U.S. users to access and install the application and algorithm from domestic data centres.

“TikTok’s response confirms our fears about the CCP’s influence in the company were well founded,” Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee said on Friday. “The Chinese-run company should have come clean from the start, but it attempted to shroud its work in secrecy. Americans need to know if they are on TikTok, Communist China has their information.”

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In a letter dated June 27, several senators, all of whom are Republicans, highlighted a BuzzFeed News article claiming that Chinese firm engineers had access to TikTok’s U.S. user data. In their letter, the lawmakers stated that TikTok and its parent company “are using their access to a treasure trove of U.S. consumer data to spy on Americans.” The New York Times previously reported on TikTok’s reaction.