Employees at TikTok’s parent company ByteDance were fired for improperly accessing data from two journalists’ accounts. This raises concerns about how user information is managed.
ByteDance acknowledged the breaches in an email to employees. The employees had looked at the IP addresses of users gained via the video-sharing app while investigating information leaks.
After the October allegations, four employees were fired in China and two in the US.
#TikTok faces being banned from US government devices under a new bill unveiled by Congress. It is the latest push from the government against the #Chinese social media network. There have long been concerns #Beijing would use legal & regulatory power to seize American user data.
— Share_Talk ™ (@Share_Talk) December 20, 2022
Erich Anderson, TikTok’s general counsel, stated that it is a standard practice for companies to have an audit team authorized to investigate violations of the code of conduct.
He added that “In this instance, individuals misused their authority in order to access TikTok user information.”
The breaches for TikTok mark a new chapter in a long-running saga over its handling of user data. Many US states have banned the app from government devices because of security concerns.
This week’s US Congress could impose a ban on all US government employees. There is increasing concern that ByteDance might hand over information from the app to China.
TikTok claimed it is developing more stringent data protection policies but admitted that European users could have their information.
Due to fears, the UK’s parliamentary accounts were also shut down earlier in the year.
Randall Lane, a chief content officer at Forbes, stated that this was a direct attack on the idea and importance of a free press in a functioning democracy.
