The US Department of Justice is investigating whether ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, has been conducting improper surveillance on US citizens and journalists, as the company deals with significant opposition in its efforts to continue operating the popular video-sharing app in the US.
The probe is being conducted by the department’s criminal division and the FBI, said a person familiar with the development who asked to remain anonymous as they were speaking about an ongoing matter.
Forbes earlier reported that US prosecutors had sent ByteDance a subpoena regarding efforts by its employees to access journalists’ location information or other private user data using TikTok.
Photo: Bloomberg
ByteDance said in a statement: “We have strongly condemned the actions of the individuals found to have been involved, and they are no longer employed at ByteDance.”
“Our internal investigation is still ongoing, and we will cooperate with any official investigations when brought to us,” the firm said.
The revelation comes as the administration of US President Joe Biden told the company to sell its shares of TikTok in the US or risk a ban of the popular app, a major escalation in the long-running standoff over privacy and national security concerns over Chinese control of its data and algorithm.
The demand indicates that the Biden administration has given up on a security review that was intended to blunt potential Chinese influence regarding the app, allowing it to keep operating in the US.
Separately, Sky News reported on Friday that TikTok would be removed from Scottish parliament smartphones and devices amid security concerns.
Members of the Scottish parliament and staff were “strongly” advised to remove TikTok, including from personal devices used to access the legislature’s IT systems, the report said, citing an e-mail.
MONEY GRAB: People were rushing to collect bills scattered on the ground after the plane transporting money crashed, which an official said hindered rescue efforts A cargo plane carrying money on Friday crashed near Bolivia’s capital, damaging about a dozen vehicles on highway, scattering bills on the ground and leaving at least 15 people dead and others injured, an official said. Bolivian Minister of Defense Marcelo Salinas said the Hercules C-130 plane was transporting newly printed Bolivian currency when it “landed and veered off the runway” at an airport in El Alto, a city adjacent to La Paz, before ending up in a nearby field. Firefighters managed to put out the flames that engulfed the aircraft. Fire chief Pavel Tovar said at least 15 people died, but
South Korea would soon no longer be one of the few countries where Google Maps does not work properly, after its security-conscious government reversed a two-decade stance to approve the export of high-precision map data to overseas servers. The approval was made “on the condition that strict security requirements are met,” the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. Those conditions include blurring military and other sensitive security-related facilities, as well as restricting longitude and latitude coordinates for South Korean territory on products such as Google Maps and Google Earth, it said. The decision is expected to hurt Naver and Kakao
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday said he did not take his security for granted, after he was evacuated from his residence for several hours following a bomb threat sent to a Chinese dance group. Albanese was evacuated from his Canberra residence late on Tuesday following the threat, and returned a few hours later after nothing suspicious was found. The bomb scare was among several e-mails threatening Albanese sent to a representative of Shen Yun, a classical Chinese dance troupe banned in China that is due to perform in Australia this month, a spokesperson for the group said in a statement. The e-mail
LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER: By showing Ju-ae’s ability to handle a weapon, the photos ‘suggest she is indeed receiving training as a successor,’ an academic said North Korea on Saturday released a rare image of leader Kim Jong-un’s teenage daughter firing a rifle at a shooting range, adding to speculation that she is being groomed as his successor. Kim’s daughter, Ju-ae, has long been seen as the next in line to rule the secretive, nuclear-armed state, and took part in a string of recent high-profile outings, including last week’s military parade marking the closing stages of North Korea’s key party congress. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a photo of Ju-ae shooting a rifle at an outdoor shooting range, peering through a rifle scope
RSS