TikTok Has Tool to Collect Information on Users’ Views on Social Issues, DOJ Says

Contact Your Elected Officials

The Chinese-owned popular video app targets users’ views on hot button issues such as gun control, abortion, and religion, the DOJ says.

TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, have a tool to collect information on users based on their views on topics such as gun control, abortion, and religion, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

In a brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on July 26, the DOJ said TikTok employees were able to communicate directly with ByteDance engineers in China via an internal web-suite system called “Lark,” which also went by the name “Feishu.”

TikTok employees had “sent significant amounts of restricted U.S. user data” through Lark channels to “address various operations issues,” according to a court filing. It added this meant “certain sensitive U.S. person data” were being stored on Chinese servers and accessible to ByteDance employees in China.

One of the tools inside Lark would allow ByteDance and TikTok employees “to collect bulk user information based on the user’s content or expressions, including views on gun control, abortion, and religion,” a federal official said, according to the court filing.

Additionally, the DOJ’s court filing stated that TikTok had created “an internal project” in 2022 to remove certain sensitive U.S. user data alleged to be “improperly maintained” on Lark channels.

In the new brief, the DOJ urged the court to reject the lawsuit brought by TikTok and ByteDance in May. The two companies are challenging the constitutionality of a new law signed by President Joe Biden in April, requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok or be banned from mobile app stores and web-hosting services in the United States. The bill was approved by Congress with bipartisan support.

“The serious national-security threat posed by TikTok is real, as evidenced by the public record and confirmed by classified information supplied by the intelligence community,” the DOJ’s brief reads.

“The Chinese government’s authority over ByteDance enables it to gain access to and exploit that [user] information to undermine U.S. national security, including by developing and recruiting intelligence assets, identifying American covert intelligence officers and assets, and blackmailing or coercing Americans.”

By Frank Fang

Read Full Article on TheEpochTimes.com

The Epoch Times
The Epoch Timeshttps://www.theepochtimes.com/
Tired of biased news? The Epoch Times is truthful, factual news that other media outlets don't report. No spin. No agenda. Just honest journalism like it used to be.

Armistice and amnesia  

In case you missed it too, June 25th marked the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War – the first hot front of the Cold War. 

Candace Owens Gets Sued by Macrons

Candace Owens began a deep dive into the lives of French President Emmanuel Macron, his wife Brigitte, and the story of how they came to be together.

Fluoride ‘Tablets’ For Babies EXPLODE in Popularity Amid Water Fluoridation Rollbacks

Reportedly, NPCs are so distraught that their toddlers won’t be fed a neurotoxin through the public water supply that they’ve resorted to fluoride pills.

ChatGPT Goes Biblical about End Times!

There are some truly outstanding internet content creators, or...

Bangkok Indians: ‘You Are Lucky Man’

In Bangkok, friendly prostitutes outside “massage” shops tell me I’m “so handsome man.” Indian men prowling those streets tell me I’m “lucky man.”

Education Department Probe Finds 5 Virginia School Districts Violated Title IX

Five school districts in No. VA violated Title IX by allowing students to access “intimate, sex-segregated facilities based on subjective ‘gender identity,’”

Washington State Sues to Prevent Trump Admin From Accessing Food Aid Immigration Data

Washington state is suing financial services company Fidelity Information Service to prevent it from sharing food aid data with the federal government.

5 Things to Know About Trump Admin’s Settlement With Columbia University

Under agreement between President Trump and Columbia regarding anti-Semitism, school will pay a $200 million fine to regain federal money.

Trumps America: Welp… that backfired.

The official @TheDemocrats account posted chart with the caption “Trump’s America” — but didn’t seem to notice how their own graph actually works.

Ex-DOJ Officials File Lawsuit Against Bondi Over Terminations

Former DOJ officials filed lawsuit against AG Bondi and the fed. govt, saying they were terminated for work on cases related to Jan. 6 Capitol breach.

Odds of U.S.-EU Trade Deal Are 50–50 Ahead of Tariff Deadline: Trump

President Donald Trump said there’s a 50–50 chance that the United States will finalize a trade deal with the European Union before an Aug. 1 deadline.

Trump Pulls Habba’s Nomination for New Jersey’s Top Prosecutor, Making Her Acting US Attorney

President Trump withdrew his nomination of Alina Habba to serve as NJ’s top federal prosecutor, making her Acting US Attorney.

Trump Says He Wants Musk’s Companies to ‘Thrive Like Never Before’

On Thursday, President Trump said, “I want Elon, and all businesses within our Country, to THRIVE, in fact, THRIVE like never before!”
spot_img

Related Articles