TikTok’s Parent Company Spied on the Location of Forbes Journalists
TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance was caught spying on the locations of Forbes journalists.
ByteDance confirmed that some of its employees gained access to the IP addresses and user data of Forbes journalists covering the company. They did this in an attempt to identify if the journalists were in similar locations as ByteDance employees.
According to materials reviewed by Forbes, ByteDance did this as part of an undercover surveillance campaign, designed to find the source of leaks inside the company following stories exposing TikTok’s links to China. After the investigation into ByteDance, the company fired its chief internal auditor, Chris Lepitak, who led the team. One of its executives Song Ye resigned, and directly reports to ByteDance CEO Rubo Liang.
“I was deeply disappointed when I was notified of the situation… and I’m sure you feel the same,” Liang wrote in an internal email shared with Forbes. “The public trust that we have spent huge efforts building is going to be significantly undermined by the misconduct of a few individuals…I believe this situation will serve as a lesson to us all,” He adds.
Is it really surprising to anyone that China is using TikTok to spy on us? #thefive pic.twitter.com/C4pQW2yf3E
— Jeanine Pirro (@JudgeJeanine) March 23, 2023
There are already uneasy tensions between TikTok and the United States government. Only a couple of months before the news, the United States was pushing to ban TikTok.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew stated before the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce, “Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country. However…you don’t simply have to take my word on that. Rather, our approach has been to work transparently and cooperatively with the U.S. government and Oracle to design robust solutions to address concerns about TikTok’s heritage.”
TikTok’s CEO, Shou Chew, testified before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce about data and safety on the social media platform as the US considers a ban on the app.
— Bloomberg (@business) March 23, 2023
Here are the key moments you need to see 👇 https://t.co/n9qmfbvtqf pic.twitter.com/8pza53O4ro
The federal government has already banned TikTok from employee devices, and the future for the rest of American users is up in the air for now.
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