Did TikTok want to monitor US users using location data?
TikTok mother ByteDance is said to have planned to monitor users in the USA using secretly collected location data. However, the platform itself denies this. The backgrounds.
Did TikTok really want to monitor US users via a China-based division? That at least reports that forbes-Magazine citing insiders and internal documents.
The ByteDance subsidiary, on the other hand, denies the allegations and accuses the magazine of improper work. The company collects location data for other purposes only.
What is TikTok accused of in detail?
Of the forbes-Report refers to a ByteDance department called “Internal Audit and Risk Control”. Here, potential misconduct by current and former ByteDance employees is primarily checked.
According to internal documents, however, the team planned to collect the location data of a TikTok user from the United States “in at least two cases”. However, he was “never in an employment relationship with the company”.
However, it is not clear from the documents whether ByteDance “actually collected data”. However, it was planned that ByteDance’s Beijing-based team would receive this location data.
The documents do not show whether data on these Americans was actually collected; however, it was planned for a Beijing-based ByteDance team to obtain location data from US users’ devices.
Why does the platform collect location data?
According to TikTok spokeswoman Maureen Shanahan, the company is collecting “approximate location information.” The company determines this based on the IP addresses.
In this way, the platform can display “relevant content and ads” to its users. This procedure is also necessary to “comply with applicable laws” and to “detect and prevent fraud and inauthentic behavior”.
As forbes further reported, these reasons for collecting the location data would not appear in the documents viewed. However, the plans for “surveillance of individual American citizens” can be found.
TikTok and ByteDance did not answer questions about whether members of the US government, activists, public figures, or journalists were specifically targeted.
That’s what TikTok says about the allegations
TikTok reports to Twitter in a thread with a denial to speak. The platform did not collect “precise GPS location data” from users in the USA. It is therefore not possible for the company to monitor its users “in the way that the article claims”.
1/ @Forbes‘ Reporting about TikTok continues to lack both rigor and journalistic integrity. https://t.co/HYF16KezqS
— TikTokComms (@TikTokComms) October 20, 2022
TikTok has never been used to “target” any members of the US government, activists, public figures or journalists, nor do we serve them a different content experience than other users.
The social media platform throws forbes also untidy work before. The magazine’s report lacked “accuracy” and “journalistic integrity.” Although a company spokeswoman is quoted in the post, forbes Decided not to include “the portion of our statement that refutes the core claim.”
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