China-headquartered parent company ByteDance is reportedly plotting a terrifying plan to track users' locations using TikTok



ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, which is popular as a short movie sharing service, is planning to use TikTok to track the location information of specific American citizens, reports the economic newspaper Forbes.




ByteDance planned to use TikTok to surveil specific American citizens | Hacker News
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33280176

Beijing, China-based ByteDance's internal monitoring and risk management department is reportedly planning to use TikTok to track the location of certain individuals. ByteDance co-founder and CEO Rubo Liang has named company executive Song Ye to lead the team.

ByteDance's internal oversight and risk management department, led by Mr. Ye, investigates possible misconduct by employees and former employees. However, according to internal documents that Forbes has obtained, ByteDance's internal oversight and risk management department has obtained location data from 'U.S. citizens who have never had an employment relationship with ByteDance' on at least two occasions. It seems that he tried to collect from TikTok. In addition, it is not clear from the materials obtained by Forbes whether this data was actually collected.

When Forbes asked a TikTok spokesperson about ``Why is TikTok collecting location information?'', ``TikTok collects approximate user location information based on the user's IP address. We serve location-based content and advertisements to users, comply with applicable laws for each user, and help detect and prevent fraud and fraud.'

However, Forbes said, 'From independently obtained materials, ByteDance's internal surveillance and risk management department plans to use location information obtained from TikTok to monitor American citizens, and that it is used solely for advertising and other purposes.' We have learned that location information is not being used.' To protect the source of this material, Forbes did not disclose details of what ByteDance's planned surveillance of American citizens will look like.



TikTok is also reportedly close to signing a deal with the

Commission on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which has the power to reject or change deals for foreign companies to acquire American companies, but the US government has also reportedly been closing the deal. continues to carefully investigate ``the possibility that the Chinese government will be able to access the personal information of American TikTok users as TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance''.

In September 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order outlining certain risks that CFIUS should consider when evaluating foreign companies, including 'foreign adversaries are Americans. 'The risks posed by accessing data from the I'm here.

As noted above, ByteDance's internal oversight and risk management department will audit TikTok and ByteDance employees who misuse company resources for violations or exposure of confidential information. This is a department for Internal documents obtained by Forbes show that senior executives, including TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, have ordered the team to investigate individual employees in the past, as well as follow-up employees even after they leave the company. It is said that it is shown that it is doing

Also, according to documents and records from Lark, which ByteDance uses internally as its office management software, ByteDance's internal oversight and risk management department uses a data request system known as the 'green channel' for its employees. , and it is clear that this green channel was pulling information about American employees from mainland China databases.

In response, a ByteDance spokesperson said, 'Like other companies of similar size, we have an internal audit team to audit and evaluate our employees' adherence to our code of conduct. The team will provide recommendations to executive management,' he said.



ByteDance is not the first technology company to try to use an app to monitor specific users in the United States. In the past, Uber and Facebook have reportedly used apps to track the location of journalists reporting on their apps, and a 2015 study by the Electronic Privacy Information Center found that Uber actually monitored the location of journalists. It has become clear that

However, in these cases, user information was stored on 'an American-based server operated by an American company'. On the other hand, TikTok's parent company is ByteDance in China, and its servers are also located in China, so the situation is significantly different from the above example. ByteDance does not want TikTok to be regulated in the United States, and plans to 'restrict access to the personal information of American users of TikTok to only authorized personnel in accordance with protocols being developed with the United States.' I'm here. This rebuilding of TikTok's internal system is known as 'Project Texas' and is said to be an essential part of the contract between ByteDance and CFIUS. At a Senate hearing in September 2022, TikTok Chief Operating Officer Vanessa Pappas said the deal with CFIUS 'will satisfy all national security concerns.' doing.

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