TikTok: Beneath Fireplace
The JUSTICE DEPARTMENT is investigating claims the CHINESE firm that owns TIKTOK, BYTEDANCE, has been spying on U.S. tech journalists, based on a report within the NEW YORK TIMES.
The corporate beforehand acknowledged that staff had obtained knowledge of U.S. TIKTOK customers, a few of whom had been reporters.
The BIDEN administration has pressured BYTEDANCE to promote its stake in TIKTOK or probably face a nationwide ban as a nationwide safety menace.
Greater than 100 million customers within the U.S. are on TIKTOK, which is reportedly taking to a number of potential consumers.
BYTEDANCE had been caught spying on journalists from FORBES MAGAZINE, together with EMILY BAKER-WHITE, final yr and admitted to the surveillance following an inside investigation.
The FORBES reporter stated the app’s proprietor used her TIKTOK account to trace her location in an effort to seek out her sources when she was working for BUZZFEED.
BYTEDANCE ended up firing the worker, CHRIS LEPITAK, and condemning the spying, saying staff “misused consumer knowledge.”
The social media app has insisted, nonetheless, that the ban wouldn’t remedy the issues of the U.S. authorities.
In accordance with TIKTOK spokesperson MAUREEN SHANAHAN, “If defending nationwide safety is the target, divestment doesn’t remedy the issue: a change in possession wouldn’t impose any new restrictions on knowledge flows or entry.”
Sen. MARK WARNER, a DEMOCRAT from VIRGINIA, not too long ago known as for a ban to the social media app to guard nationwide safety pursuits. “Actually 100 million AMERICANS are on TIKTOK a mean of 90 minutes a day. That knowledge is residing in CHINA it doesn’t matter what TIKTOK says, and the reality is TIKTOK can be utilized as a propaganda mechanism for the COMMUNIST PARTY of CHINA, which I consider is a nationwide safety concern.”
