China-owned TikTok denies it might use location info to trace U.S. customers

On Friday, TikTok denied it used location-specific information to trace sure people in the USA, countering a Forbes report alleging the Chinese language-owned video app was planning plan to hold out such monitoring.

On Thursday, Forbes printed an article alleging that TikTok, owned by Chinese language firm ByteDance, deliberate to make use of its app to “observe the non-public places of sure US residents particularly doable”, citing printed paperwork.

Different allegations embody:

• Oversight is carried out by Inner Audit and Danger Management of ByteDance, TikTok’s mother or father firm, whose management experiences on to the CEO.
• The division primarily conducts investigations into worker misconduct but additionally plans to gather location information on a US citizen who has by no means labored on the firm.

The Forbes article additionally says that it is unclear whether or not any information was really collected.

TikTok hit again on the article in a sequence of tweets claiming it lacked “each the seriousness and integrity of journalism.”

TikTok stated Forbes “elected to not embody the a part of our assertion that refute the feasibility of its core allegation: TikTok doesn’t acquire exact GPS location info from US customers, which implies TikTok can’t monitor US customers in the way in which the article suggests.”

TikTok added that its app has by no means been used to “goal” any members of the US authorities, activists, public figures or journalists.

“We’re assured in our sourcing and we stand by our report,” a Forbes spokesperson stated.

John Paczkowski, govt editor for expertise and innovation at Forbes, stated Friday that TikTok and ByteDance “haven’t denied any claims within the story.”

TikTok has had just a few years of testing within the US since former President Donald Trump ordered the app to divest its US enterprise, claiming it threatened nationwide safety. Washington is anxious that information collected on US residents by TikTok might fall into the fingers of the Chinese language authorities.

In July, TiKTok CEO Shou Zi Chew acknowledged that “staff outdoors the US, together with staff in China, could have entry to US TikTok consumer information relying on a a sequence of sturdy cybersecurity controls and authorization approval protocols overseen by our US-based safety workforce.”

Nonetheless, the corporate stated on the time that it was engaged on a serious initiative known as Challenge Texas, which goals to “fully shield consumer information and the nationwide safety pursuits of the USA.” This contains storing all US information by default within the Oracle cloud.