Well known for the dances, the TikTok has become one of the stars of recent years due to its spectacular growth. But the history of the social network is not only made of merits: the ByteDance acknowledged that officials used data from the platform to spy on journalists, according to an exclusive report by forbes🇧🇷
This whole uncomfortable situation was revealed by journalist Emily Baker-White, who was also a victim of monitoring.
In June, when it was BuzzFeed Newsthe reporter reported that US user data was repeatedly accessed by employees in China, the company’s home country. The information came from audios of meetings held within ByteDance, which ended up in the hands of the journalist.
The situation, however, did not end there. This Thursday (22), Baker-White reported that the company behind TikTok spied on “several journalists from the forbes” and other outlets to find out where the leaks of internal information were coming from.
After all, in recent times, ByteDance has been the target of several reports that exposed its relationship with the Chinese government.
ByteDance monitored the location of users
Surveillance started with personal data of journalists, such as IP address. Through this information, ByteDance employees tried to verify that the journalists were in the same places as the employees of the company responsible for TikTok.
All of this was uncovered by an internal investigation. But the situation is not now.
Baker-White recalled that, in October, the business magazine even revealed the company’s surveillance tactics. At the time, the company was accused of accessing the location data of some US users. And all of this was done without the targets’ knowledge.
The action, according to forbes, was moved by employees based in Beijing, China. More specifically by the internal audit and risk control department, led by Song Ye.
Song Ye, it should be noted, reports directly to ByteDance CEO Rubo Liang.
The big question is that, at the time, the company did not deny spying when questioned by the magazine. However, ByteDance spoke out on Twitterclaiming that TikTok was never used to spy on activists, public figures, journalists or members of the US government, calling into question the reporting at the time.
However, this whole situation was clarified some time later.
TikTok owner acknowledged spying
According to the Thursday’s report (22)improper monitoring was confirmed by ByteDance itself after an internal review.
In an internal email accessed by forbes and by The Vergethe company’s CEO said he was “deeply disappointed” after learning of the situation.
“The public trust that we have invested enormous efforts to build will be significantly undermined by the misconduct of some individuals,” he said. “I believe this situation will serve as a lesson for all of us.”
In the statement, the executive stated that the company was taking “immediate actions” to “alleviate and resolve” the case.
Other internal emails sound disapproving when talking about the task force.
Erich Andersen, general counsel of TikTok, recalled that it is standard practice to have an internal audit group to investigate violations of the code of conduct. “However, in this case, individuals abused their authority to gain access to TikTok user data,” he said.
“These individuals intended to identify possible connections between two journalists, who reported the contents of leaked documents and recordings – a former reporter for the BuzzFeed and a reporter from Financial Times – and company employees,” he explained. “In turn, they hoped that information about these connections would help identify the officials responsible for the leaks.”
Also according to Andersen, the “reckless efforts did not result in the identification of the sources of the leaks”.
“I want to add that this misconduct in no way represents what I know our company principles are,” said TikTok CEO Shou Chew. “I am disappointed to learn that anyone, even a very small subset of people, would have found this acceptable.”
A TikTok spokeswoman also spoke out. In note to forbesHilary McQuaide said the misconduct of “certain individuals” was a “misuse” of authority conferred by office “to gain access to user data”.
Also according to the representative, this “bad behavior is unacceptable” and is not in line” with TikTok’s efforts to gain users’ trust.
Employees were sacked after the scandal.
All this thorn in the side resulted, unsurprisingly, in layoffs.
After the case came to light, the head of internal audit, Chris Lepitak, was terminated. Afterwards, Song Ye, who headed the internal audit and risk control department, asked to leave.
The other employees who participated in the action are also no longer part of the company’s staff.
In any case, this controversy could further sour the relationship between the company and the US government.
During Donald Trump’s presidency, TikTok experienced moments of tension in American lands. The situation even resulted in a blockade by the US Navy after the platform was deemed a “security threat” in 2019🇧🇷
The situation, on the other hand, seems to have calmed down since Joe Biden became the new resident of the White House. No wonder, in September, TikTok moved forward on an agreement with the United States on data security🇧🇷
Watching the scenes of the next chapters.
Uber has been accused of spying
ByteDance is not the only technology company to be involved in a controversy of this magnitude.
In 2017, Uber was accused of spying by the former global intelligence manager himself. At the time, Richard Jacobs reported that the company remotely accessed confidential data and corporate communications from an undisclosed competitor.
In addition, the former employee said that the company stole data to identify drivers that could increase the company’s market share and bought source code to understand how a rival application worked.
All this resulted in a very complicated year for the company. Ultimately, CEO Travis Kalanick resigned in June 2017🇧🇷
In 2014, the BuzzFeed News talked about the existence of an internal tool known as “God View”. Through it, company employees could easily surveil users, including journalists.
And let’s not forget about PRISM, used by the US government to access servers of large technology companies🇧🇷
https://tecnoblog.net/noticias/2022/12/23/dona-do-tiktok-espionou-jornalistas-apos-vazamento-de-informacoes/