The US Department of Justice claims that TikTok collected user opinions on topics such as 'abortion' and 'gun control'

On July 26, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice filed court documents alleging that TikTok had collected user opinions on issues that divide American society, such as religion, abortion, and gun control, and transmitted them to its Chinese parent company.

#01208647195 in TikTok Inc. v. Merrick Garland (DC Cir., 24-1113) – CourtListener.com
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68506893/01208647195/tiktok-inc-v-merrick-garland/

TikTok Collected US Users' Views on Gun Control, Abortion and Religion, US Says - WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/tech/tiktok-collected-us-users-views-on-gun-control-abortion-and-religion-us-says-4fcf19f6

DOJ claims TikTok collected US user views on abortion, gun control
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/27/justice-dept-asks-court-to-reject-tiktok-challenge-to-crackdown-law.html

Justice Dept. asks court to reject TikTok challenge to crackdown law | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/legal/usdoj-tells-court-reject-tiktok-challenge-crackdown-law-2024-07-27/

Authorities have submitted new documents to the Federal Appeals Court in Washington in a lawsuit filed by ByteDance, the Chinese company that operates TikTok, over the ' TikTok Ban Act ,' which requires the company to sell or withdraw from its US business.

According to the documents, TikTok used an internal system called 'Lark' to communicate directly with ByteDance, and TikTok employees sent American users' data, including opinions on sensitive topics such as abortion and religion, to the parent company through Lark. The user data sent to ByteDance was stored on servers in China and was accessible to ByteDance employees in China, authorities allege.

Previously, internal documents were discovered showing that TikTok had shared sensitive data such as addresses and child pornography with ByteDance through Lark.

Internal documents reveal that Chinese employees shared TikTok users' driver's licenses, addresses, photos, etc. on the company's internal tool 'Lark' - GIGAZINE

By Solen Feyissa

'This report further demonstrates that ByteDance and TikTok acted on Chinese authorities' demands to censor content outside of China,' Assistant Director of National Intelligence Casey Blackburn said in a statement.

The authorities also revealed that TikTok has a feature called 'heating,' which allows employees to manually increase the exposure of certain videos. Heating is a useful feature for TikTok to increase the effectiveness of advertisements using popular content, but US authorities are concerned that it could be used to promote content that the Chinese government desires.

'TikTok poses real and serious national security threats. TikTok provides the Chinese government with the means to undermine U.S. national security through two mechanisms: data collection and covert content manipulation,' the Department of Justice said in the document.

Meanwhile, TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said, 'The documents submitted do not change the fact that the Constitution is on our side. The TikTok ban would silence the voices of 170 million Americans and violate the First Amendment. As we have said before, the government has never provided evidence of its claims, not even when Congress passed this unconstitutional bill. Once again, the government is taking unprecedented steps by citing classified information, but we are confident we will prevail in court.'

In response to the law, which was signed by President Joe Biden in April 2024, Donald Trump, who plans to run for president in November 2024, said, 'I would never support a ban on TikTok.'

Donald Trump says, 'I support TikTok' and 'Without TikTok, Facebook and Instagram will have more power' - GIGAZINE

By Gage Skidmore

Vice President Kamala Harris, who is expected to be nominated by the Democratic Party as a replacement candidate for President Biden, who is withdrawing from the election campaign, also opened an official TikTok account on July 25. However, the Biden campaign has also stated that it will use TikTok as a means to reach young people, so just using TikTok in election campaigns does not reveal its views on the TikTok ban.

Oral arguments in the trial on whether the TikTok ban is unconstitutional are scheduled to be held in September 2024.