It looks like China does have access to U.S. TikTok user data
UPDATE: Nov. 3, 2022, 11:31 a.m. EDT This article has been updated to reflect new information confirming suspicions about China's access to U.S. and European user data.
Despite the repeated assurances that TikTok's parent company, the China-based ByteDance, isn't checking out data collected about users in the U.S. and Europe, it looks like the company absolutely does and can.
According a report from The Guardianon Wednesday, TikTok’s head of privacy in Europe, Elaine Fox, told employees: "Based on a demonstrated need to do their job, subject to a series of robust security controls and approval protocols, and by way of methods that are recognized [sp] under the GDPR, we allow certain employees within our corporate group located in Brazil, Canada, China, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and the United States, remote access to TikTok European user data."
Tweet may have been deleted
We already knew that TikTok employees based in China can see U.S. data. On July 1, TikTok confirmed that employees based in China are able to access U.S. user data through "approval protocols." According to the New York Times, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew provided details about how it plans to keep data about its American users separate from ByteDance, its Chinese parent company, in a letter to nine Republican senators. In that letter, he noted that ByteDance employees in China were able to access TikTok data only through “subject to a series of robust cybersecurity controls and authorization approval protocols overseen by our U.S.-based security team.” Chew added, “We know we are among the most scrutinized platforms from a security standpoint, and we aim to remove any doubt about the security of U.S. user data."
The nine Republican senators write to TikTok with questions about its practices after a Jun. 17 from BuzzFeed News in which they reviewed recordings containing over a dozen separate statements from nine different TikTok employees showed that engineers in China had access to U.S. data from at least September 2021 through January 2022. One member of TikTok’s Trust and Safety department said, in September 2021, that "everything is seen in China," according to BuzzFeed News. Apparently, there's even one Beijing-based engineer who "has access to everything" — they call them a "Master Admin."
That means former President Donald Trump may have been correct in his assessment of the app when he said in an August 2020 executive order that TikTok's "data collection threatens to allow" China to "access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information." TikTok repeatedly said it has never and would never share U.S. user data with the Chinese government.
Related Stories
- Mega commenters are the best part of TikTok
- Why is TikTok removing sex ed videos?
- TikTok confirms it censored content critical of China
- TikTok is where you go to bare your scars
In response to BuzzFeed News' investigation, a TikTok spokesperson said the app is "among the most scrutinized platforms from a security standpoint" and that it plans to "remove any doubt about the security of U.S. user data."
TikTok has already come under fire for its data collection, and this is just another step in yet another app collecting information on its users and doing whatever it pleases with it. It seems being online in 2022 is becoming more and more difficult to do while maintaining some semblance of privacy and data autonomy.
TopicsTikTok
-
采购商+48,英德红茶在泉城济南蹭蹭涨粉Arsenal close in on Chelsea’s David LuizScientists find clear proof that a supervolcano won't wipe humans outSpaceX's Starship just had amazing firsts for spaceflight12 Sculptures Made From Recycled MaterialsNASA rover discovers mysterious Mars boulder unlike any othersCoutinho set for Barca stay after Miami win over Napoli我们不会丢下一个病人Why Kamala Harris triggers Donald Trump so intensely.Norton 360 in Australia: Everything you need to know
下一篇:The local version of Project 2025 is already causing devastation.
- ·10 Places to Get to Know Paul Bunyan
- ·NK leader pays respects to fallen soldiers ahead of Korean War armistice anniv.
- ·Scientists just found a really strange super
- ·Mobile World Congress will stay in Barcelona until 2030
- ·The AI stock bubble has burst. Here's how we know.
- ·Norton 360 in Australia: Everything you need to know
- ·N. Korea has apparently lifted mask mandate
- ·Facebook says Russia
- ·Microwave technique recovers 87% of batteries' lithium in 15 minutes
- ·以“四督联动”机制确保科学重建
- ·Four young Premier League stars ready to shine
- ·NASA rover gets blasted by solar storm on Mars, captures footage
- ·尝“鲜”盛宴,等你来探!2024年清远西牛麻竹笋尝鲜季即将启幕
- ·[2018 Inter
- ·Four young Premier League stars ready to shine
- ·名山区工商局联合执法 查处无照经营农药行为
- ·Who is the Dark Wizard in 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' Season 2?
- ·不管道路多么崎岖我们一路前行
- ·What a kindergartener can learn about a surveillance blimp
- ·Who are nine NK officials accompanying Kim Jong
- ·Weather update for second Pak vs Ban second Test match day one
- ·Who are nine NK officials accompanying Kim Jong
- ·Iran says US 'unqualified' to play role in Korean detente
- ·NASA reveals footage of astronauts training in desert for moon mission
- ·We Bought the Cheapest DDR5 RAM Modules We Could Find, Are They Any Good?
- ·Top diplomats of G7 condemn N. Korea's ICBM test, call for strong response by UNSC
- ·Game Plan
- ·Top diplomats of G7 condemn N. Korea's ICBM test, call for strong response by UNSC
- ·NASA rover drives through ancient Mars river channel, snaps stunning view
- ·Launch of Boeing's Starliner spaceship gets scuttled. Yes, again.
- ·18 Places for Epic Outdoor Adventure Across Colorado
- ·共渡难关 同享梅韵馨香
- ·New Webb telescope image isn't just stunning. It shattered a record.
- ·How a NASA scientist blew all of our minds
- ·The Apple iPod: Pocket Music Before That Phone
- ·N. Korea fires two ballistic missiles into East Sea: JCS