House Republicans press TikTok on data sharing

Two significant position Home Republicans are inquiring TikTok for much more information about the entry that China-primarily based staff of its guardian company ByteDance have to American info.

“We compose to request paperwork and info concerning latest stories that TikTok will allow China-primarily based workforce of its parent organization, ByteDance, to accessibility non-general public U.S. user info, contrary to the company’s preceding denials,” the top rated Republicans on the Oversight committee, James Comer (R-Ky.) and Electrical power and Commerce committee, Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Clean.), wrote in a letter to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.

“If legitimate, not only did TikTok misrepresent or present fake testimony about its info administration and security tactics, but it has positioned the safety and privacy of tens of millions of U.S. citizens in jeopardy,” they added in the letter despatched Thursday.

The quick kind movie platform had preserved since exploding in recognition in the U.S. that knowledge from People was not available in China, in which safety guidelines make it effortless for the authorities to get hold of information and facts held by providers.

But current reporting from BuzzFeed Information based mostly on dozens of inside meetings indicates that firewall is porous.

Personnel of ByteDance centered in China have commonly accessed private facts on U.S. people, the reporting found.

TikTok has defended alone in the encounter of that reporting, expressing that it has been performing on securing data flows and highlighting its development on a deal to shift American data onto Oracle servers.

Backups of American consumer data will be stored on TikTok’s own servers in Virginia and Singapore prior to being deleted in the switch to Oracle. 

Those people assurances have completed minor to assuage lawmaker problem however.

Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) despatched a letter to Federal Trade Fee earlier this month contacting for the agency to investigate no matter if TikTok mislead end users about the protection of their information.

A team of Senate Republicans led by Sens. Roger Wicker (Miss out on.) and Tom Cotton (Ark.) also asked Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to enforce an order of previous President Trump to compel ByteDance to divest all American assets and facts.