TikTok, the viral video-sharing app owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動), said that some employees outside the US can access information from US users, stoking further criticism from US lawmakers who have raised alarms about the social network’s data-sharing practices.
The company’s comment came in a letter to nine US senators who accused TikTok and its parent of monitoring US citizens and demanded answers on what is becoming a familiar line of questioning for the company: Do China-based employees have access to US users’ data? What role do those employees play in shaping TikTok’s algorithm? Is any of that information shared with the Chinese government?
China-based employees who clear a number of internal security protocols can access certain information on TikTok’s US users, including public videos and comments, TikTok chief executive officer Chew Shou Zi (周受資) said in letter dated Thursday obtained by Bloomberg News.
Photo: Reuters
None of that information is shared with the Chinese government and it is subject to “robust cybersecurity controls,” he said.
The social network said it is working with the US government on strengthening data security about that information — particularly anything defined as “protected” by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US.
The new effort, called “Project Texas,” includes physically storing US information in data centers on US servers owned by software giant Oracle Corp.
TikTok is also shifting its platform to Oracle’s cloud infrastructure, which means the app and the algorithm would be accessed and deployed for US users from domestic data centers.
“TikTok’s response confirms our fears about the CCP’s [Chinese Communist Party’s] influence in the company were well founded,” US Senator Marsha Blackburn told Bloomberg 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,” Blackburn said.
Several senators in a letter dated Monday cited a report in BuzzFeed News that said TikTok’s US consumer data were accessed by company engineers in China.
The lawmakers said in the letter that TikTok and its parent “are using their access to a treasure trove of US consumer data to surveil Americans.”
The New York Times reported earlier on TikTok’s response.
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
‘POLITICAL GAME’: DPP lawmakers said the motion would not meet the legislative threshold needed, and accused the KMT and the TPP of trivializing the Constitution The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved a motion to initiate impeachment proceedings against President William Lai (賴清德), saying he had undermined Taiwan’s constitutional order and democracy. The motion was approved 61-50 by lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who together hold a legislative majority. Under the motion, a roll call vote for impeachment would be held on May 19 next year, after various hearings are held and Lai is given the chance to defend himself. The move came after Lai on Monday last week did not promulgate an amendment passed by the legislature that
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
RSS