Republican Lawmaker Requests TikTok to Testify Over US Data Accessed From China

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Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) has requested tiktok appear before the Senate for a hearing over concerns that the China-based video-sharing app has access to U.S. data.

The lawmaker together with eight colleagues, including Ted Cruz (R-Fla.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.),ย raised the issue with the company in a June 27 letter (pdf.) that followed a BuzzFeedย reportย published June 17 based on leaked audio from 80 TikTok internal meetings.

BuzzFeed reported that 14 statements made by nine different TikTok employees indicated that โ€œengineers in China had access to U.S. data between September 2021 and January 2022, at the very least.โ€

The news outlet also referred to โ€œone Beijing-based engineer as a โ€˜Master Adminโ€™โ€ who โ€œhas access to everything.โ€

According to BuzzFeed, U.S. engineers had to rely on their China-based colleagues โ€œto determine how U.S. user data was flowing,โ€ as they are not allowed to access the data on their own.

The detail was confirmed by eight different employees in nine statements.

The article pointed out that the statements bear a stark contrast to the sworn testimony by a TikTok executive in an October 2021 Senate hearing that a โ€œworld-renowned, U.S.-based security teamโ€ handled access to user data.

Accused of Misrepresentations

In their letter, the lawmakers pointed to the TikTok statement and alleged the Chinese company of misleading congressmen in relation to user data access.

โ€œIt appears that TikTok is now taking steps to deflect from its own knowing misrepresentations by changing the way in which โ€˜protectedโ€™ data can be accessed by its employees,โ€ the letter further read.

The lawmakers continued to bring up 11 questions seeking clarification from the Chinese entity on various matters including why should Chinese staff gain access to U.S. data; whether employees of bytedanceโ€”TikTokโ€™s parent companyโ€”have access to U.S. data and whether TikTok shares its U.S. data with the Chinese regime etc.

By Hannah Ng

Read Full Article on TheEpochTimes.com

Senator Marsha Blackburn

Blackburn Blasts China’s TikTok for Sharing Americans’ Data

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) released the following statement in response to a letter TikTok sent to Blackburn and her colleagues regarding reports about the company giving Beijing backdoor access to private user data.  โ€œTikTokโ€™s response confirms that our fears regarding CCP influence within the company are well-founded. They should have come clean from the start but instead tried to shroud their work in secrecy. Americans need to know that if they are on TikTok, Communist China has their information. TikTok needs to come back and testify before Congress.โ€ โ€” Senator Blackburn

Blackburn Leads Letter Demanding Answers On TikTokโ€™s Backdoor Data Access For Beijing

NASHVILLE, TENN. โ€“ U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) sent a letter to the CEO of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, following reports about the company giving Beijing backdoor access to private user data. Senator Blackburn was joined on her letter by Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), and Steve Daines (R-Mont.).

Beijing Has Their Hands On Americansโ€™ Private Data

โ€œWe are writing about the June 17, 2022, BuzzFeed News report that highlighted how TikTokโ€™s U.S. consumer data was, on multiple occasions, accessed by the companiesโ€™ engineers in China. According to BuzzFeed News, the outlet reviewed 14 statements by nine different TikTok employees, each of whom attested to such incidents between September 2021 and January 2022. A member of TikTokโ€™s Trust and Safety Department alleged that โ€˜everything is seen in China,โ€™ and stated that one Beijing-based engineer had โ€˜access to everything.โ€™ Further, U.S. employees apparently did not even have the permissions or knowledge needed to access the data,โ€ the Senators wrote.

TikTok Will Lie To Cover Up Their Data Breaches With The CCP

โ€œWe are very concerned that, in light of these reports, TikTokโ€™s representative did not provide truthful or forthright answers to the Senate Commerce Committee at its subcommittee hearing. It appears that TikTok is now taking steps to deflect from its knowing misrepresentations by changing the way in which โ€˜protectedโ€™ data can be accessed by its employees. The implications of these findings are stark, but not surprising. Rather, they simply confirm what lawmakers long suspected about TikTok and its parent company, ByteDanceโ€”they are using their access to a treasure trove of U.S. consumer data to surveil Americans. And this unfortunately extends beyond consumer data into the national security space,โ€ the Senators wrote.

View full letterย hereย or below.

Dear Mr. Chew:

We are writing about the June 17, 2022, BuzzFeed News report that highlighted how TikTokโ€™s U.S. consumer data was, on multiple occasions, accessed by the companiesโ€™ engineers in China. According to BuzzFeed News, the outlet reviewed 14 statements by nine different TikTok employees, each of whom attested to such incidents between September 2021 and January 2022. A member of TikTokโ€™s Trust and Safety Department alleged that โ€œeverything is seen in China,โ€ and stated that one Beijing-based engineer had โ€œaccess to everything.โ€ Further, U.S. employees apparently did not even have the permissions or knowledge needed to access the data.

In October 2021, Michael Beckerman, TikTokโ€™s Head of Public Policy for the Americas, testified before the Senate Commerce Committeeโ€™s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security. In response to questioning, Mr. Beckerman referenced a Citizen Lab report, which said, โ€œour research shows that thereโ€™s no overt data transmission to the Chinese government. In our testing, TikTok did not contact any servers within China.โ€ Mr. Beckerman also stated that โ€œU.S. user data is stored in the United States. Our backups are in Singapore. And we have a world-renowned U.S. based security team that handles access to user data.โ€ Additionally, Mr. Beckerman said that TikTok did not provide data to the Chinese government on Chinese persons living in the U.S. or elsewhere, because โ€œTikTok is not available in China.โ€ Finally, he noted that Beijing ByteDance Technology โ€œdoes not have any relation to the TikTok entity.โ€

We are very concerned that, in light of these reports, TikTokโ€™s representative did not provide truthful or forthright answers to the Senate Commerce Committee at its subcommittee hearing. It appears that TikTok is now taking steps to deflect from its knowing misrepresentations by changing the way in which โ€œprotectedโ€ data can be accessed by its employees.

The implications of these findings are stark, but not surprising. Rather, they simply confirm what lawmakers long suspected about TikTok and its parent company, ByteDanceโ€”they are using their access to a treasure trove of U.S. consumer data to surveil Americans. And this unfortunately extends beyond consumer data into the national security space. According to a recent article in Task & Purpose, despite a military ban on using TikTok on government-issued devices, the app is widely popular with servicemembers who use it on their personal devices.

We would appreciate answers to the following questions Monday, July 18th, 2022:

1.         Is it true that TikTok employees located in China currently have, or had in the past, access to U.S. user data? This could include programmers, product developers, data teams, as well as trust and safety and content moderation professionals.

a.         If yes, please explain in detail which employees have or had such access and for what purposes.

b.         If the employees had this access in the past but no longer do, please identify the applicable date ranges.

2.         TikTokโ€™s privacy policy says you share data you collect with your parent companies and affiliates and that you transmit user information to servers and data centers overseas. 

a.         Have any ByteDance employeesโ€”located in China or elsewhereโ€”had access to U.S. user data, either currently or in the past?

b.         What are the locations of the servers and data centers overseas where TikTok transmits U.S. user data?

3.         Do any ByteDance employees have a role in shaping TikTokโ€™s algorithm?

4.         Do any Douyin employees have any access to American user data or a role in shaping TikTokโ€™s algorithm?

5.         In the past, TikTok has said that it has neverโ€”nor would it everโ€”provide user data to the Chinese government, even if asked. Yet your privacy policy says you can disclose data collected to respond to government inquiries.

a.         Has TikTok ever disclosed any U.S. user data to respond to government inquiries from the Chinese Communist Party? 

b.         If the Chinese Communist Party asked you for U.S. user data, what is to stop you from providing it? Can the CCP compel you to provide this data, regardless of response? Can they access it, regardless of response? 

c.         Has ByteDance ever responded to CCP inquiries on TikTokโ€™s behalf?

d.         Has TikTok ever shared U.S. user data with ByteDance for the purpose of responding to a CCP inquiry?

6.         Do TikTok employees in the U.S. use software developed by ByteDance, such as Lark?

7.         Does ByteDance have any roleโ€”either in the past or in the presentโ€”in hiring TikTok employees in the U.S.?

8.         Does TikTok own or lease its own office space in the U.S., and does ByteDance have any ownership or lease stake in those facilities?

9.         Does the Chinese government have an ownership stake or seat on the Board of Directors, or provide personnel in any other leadership position, of the Beijing ByteDance Technology Company?

a.         What role does this seat play in impacting decisions made at ByteDance or TikTok?

b.         Does this position afford an opportunity for the board member to determine whether and how TikTok or ByteDance will respond to CCP inquiries?

c.         Does this position afford an opportunity for the board member to view TikTok user data?

d.         Would you be informed, as a matter of policy, if a board member did view the data? If the board member did share the data, in any capacity, with the CCP?

10.        How will TikTokโ€™s new cloud service arrangement be structured, and how will the company determine which data is โ€œprotectedโ€ such that it is not shared with employees or others in China?

11.        Why is TikTok not planning to ensure that all U.S. user data is blocked from view of employees or others in China?We look forward to your responses.

Blackburn Leads Letter Demanding Answers On TikTokโ€™s Backdoor Data Access For Beijing

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