ByteDance Finds Employees Obtained TikTok User Data of Two Journalists

Last Updated: December 25, 2022, 11:46 ISTTikTok is back in the news for worrying reasonsByteDance, the Chinese parent company of popular video app TikTok, said on Thursday that

some employees improperly accessed TikTok user data of two journalists and were no longer employed by the company, an email seen by Reuters shows.WASHINGTON: ByteDance, the Chinese

parent company of popular video app TikTok, said on Thursday that some employees improperly accessed TikTok user data of two journalists and were no longer employed by the company,

an email seen by Reuters shows.ByteDance employees accessed the data as part of an unsuccessful effort to investigate leaks of company information earlier this year, and were

aiming to identify potential connections between two journalists, a former BuzzFeed reporter and a Financial Times reporter, and company employees, the email from ByteDance general

counsel Erich Andersen said.The employees looked at IP addresses of journalists attempting to learn if they were in the same location as employees suspected of leaking confidential

information.The disclosure, reported earlier by the New York Times, could add to pressure TikTok is facing in Washington from lawmakers and the Biden administration over security

concerns about US user data.A person briefed on the matter said four ByteDance employees who were involved in the incident were fired, including two in China and two in the United

States. Company officials said they were taking additional steps to protect user data.Congress is set to pass legislation this week to ban US government employees from downloading

or using TikTok on their government-owned devices and more than a dozen governors have barred state employees from using TikTok on state-owned devices.The Financial Times said in a

statement that "spying on reporters, interfering with their work or intimidating their sources is completely unacceptable. We'll be investigating this story more fully before

deciding our formal response."BuzzFeed News spokesperson Lizzie Grams said the company was deeply disturbed by the report, saying it showed "a blatant disregard for the privacy and

rights of journalists as well as TikTok users."Forbes reported Thursday ByteDance had tracked multiple Forbes journalists including some who formerly worked at BuzzFeed "as part of

a covert surveillance campaign" aimed at discovering the source of leaks. Randall Lane, the chief content officer of Forbes, called it "a direct assault on the idea of ​​a free

press and its critical role in a functioning democracy."TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew said in a separate email to employees seen by Reuters that such "misconduct is not at Find Out More