Today In News That Surprised No One: TikTok Has Been Lying

A former TikTok executive alleges Chinese Communist Party officials have "supreme access" to all users data including Americans

TikTok’s former head of engineering in the United States has created a firestorm with a new lawsuit alleging that ByteDance Inc, the parent company of TikTok, has built in a backdoor channel for the Chinese Communist Party allowing them “supreme access” to all data including that of U.S. Citizens.

According to a recent report by the New York Times Yintao “Roger” Yu, who was let go by TikTok in 2018, alleges he was fired by the communist controlled company in retaliation for his complaints to supervisors about “brazenly unlawful conduct” he observed at TikTok. According to Yu, TikTok is stole copyrighted content, fabricated data to mislead the public, and furthered the communist parties propaganda goals while he was there. Further, Yu claims to have been horrified by ByteDance’s CEO’s testimony before congress where the latter denied the existence of the very backdoor channel that Yu knows exists.

While many are quick to point out that concrete evidence has yet to manifest of TikTok posing a national security threat [1] there is a great deal of circumstantial evidence that is growing by the day. Just months ago TikTok admitted to European lawmakers that Chinese based employees had access to the same types of data that TikTok now denies is being shared about Americans [2], the very same kind of data Mr. Yu claims is being accessed.

TikTok has been under barrage for over a year now for various questionable practices, many of which echo or outright mirror Yu’s accusations. Many were troubled to learn that, while often social media companies share their users data, TikTok shares analytics on its customers with over a dozen unknown sources which is six times the industry standard [3]. Lawmakers and policy experts have also raised alarm over the ability of TikTok to effect the voting patterns of users in the United States [4]. Prosecutors have also taken notice with the FBI Director recently testifying that he is "extremely concerned" about TikTok [5] and various States Attorneys General investigating the platform for its effect on American citizens [6].

The onslaught seemed to have reached it’s crescendo when Congress considered legislation to empower the Executive Branch to ban the app outright in the United States [7] but then the Montana State Legislature went a step further by actually passing a bill prohibiting app stores from carrying TikTok with fines up to $10,000 per day every day the app remains downloadable [8].

It is unclear if Mr. Yu’s case will survive the financially driven power of the TikTok lawyer team much less the complicated United States legal system. However, what is clear is that his accusations, if true, fit a pattern of TikTok ignoring or outright working against the interests of the American public. Only time will tell if Mr. Yu, the State of Montana, or any of the other parties allied against TikTok have the necessary slingshots to slay this growing digital Goliath.