.TikTok has confirmed that employees outside the United States could access U.S. user data, a revelation that appears to validate many concerns regarding China's access to the app's data.
The confirmation was offered in a response letter sent by TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to nine Republican senators, including Ted Cruz and Marsha Blackburn . The letter addressed a series of economic and security concerns after a Buzzfeed News report revealed that the company's Chinese employees were able to access U.S. user data.
"Employees outside the U.S., including China-based employees, can have access to TikTok U.S. user data subject to a series of robust cybersecurity controls and authorization approval protocols overseen by our U.S.-based security team," Chew confirmed in a Thursday letter acquired by the New York Times.
The TikTok CEO also confirmed that the company is negotiating with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States on what data should be"protected." The current agreement with CFIUS would keep private details such as birthdays and phone numbers protected, according to Buzzfeed News. It would not include user profiles, comments, or posts, possibly allowing China-based employees insights into TikTok users' habits.
Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Brendan Carr expressed concerns about TikTok's relationship with China in a June 24 letter in which he demanded that Apple and Google remove TikTok from their app stores due to the security concerns. Then-President Donald Trump issued an August 2020 executive order prohibiting transactions with ByteDance, alleging that TikTok's vast data collection"threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.
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