A former ByteDance executive says that the Chinese Communist Party has back-door access to TikTok’s U.S. user data.
An executive who was fired by TikTok parent ByteDance back in 2018, Yintao « Roger » Yu, has filed a lawsuit against his former employer claiming that he was fired as head of engineering in the U.S. Per Bloomberg, Yu was fired after complaining to his bosses at the company about « brazenly unlawful conduct » at ByteDance. One allegation made by Yu claims that the Chinese Communist Party had a « backdoor channel » inside the company that gave it « supreme access » to all data generated by the TikTok app.
This is exactly what U.S. lawmakers and officials feared when they started blocking TikTok on government devices in 34 states. Last month, Montana passed legislation that bans TikTok from being used on personal devices within state lines and also prevents the app from being offered on any app stores inside the state. The governor still needs to sign off on the bill which, if signed, would take effect in January 2024.
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ByteDance said that it will vigorously fight the lawsuit while calling it « baseless. » The company also pointed out that Yu worked at the company for less than one year. A spokesman for the Chinese tech firm also said, « ByteDance is committed to respecting the intellectual property of other companies, and we acquire data in accordance with industry practices and our global policy.
