The Associated Press and the New York Times (NYT) reported on the 12th (local time) that the Chinese government has used the video-sharing platform TikTok as a “propaganda tool” for the Communist Party.
According to reports, Yu Yintao, who was fired from his job at TikTok’s parent company, said the Chinese government not only had access to all of the company’s data, but actively exercised it.
Yu Yintao, who is in the process of unfair dismissal lawsuit against ByteDance, filed an additional opinion with the San Francisco District Court on the same day.
Yu Yintao claimed he was fired because he challenged the company’s misconduct to steal and profit from other companies’ intellectual property.
From August 2017 to November 2018, he reportedly worked as head of engineering for the U.S. division of TikTok parent company ByteDance.
“At ByteDance’s office in Beijing, there is a special department of the Communist Party, the so-called ‘Committee’, that monitors the company’s apps,” Yu said in the complaint. there is,” he said.
In an emailed statement, ByteDance said, “We strongly oppose this complaint, which lacks any evidence.” He worked on a web called Flippagram, which was discontinued for business reasons.”
Previously, the White House commented in March that it welcomed a bill that would give the US government the power to ban foreign information and communication technology (IT) products that pose a national security threat to the Senate. The US Foreign Investment Commission (CFIUS) also warned that the use of TikTok could be banned in the United States if the Chinese founder of TikTok did not sell his stake.
TikTok has made an official statement that it has never provided the data of US users to the Chinese government. TikTok also came up with measures to transfer US user information to Oracle servers, an American company, and delete records from TikTok’s own servers, such as those in Singapore.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.