TikTok accused of using data to track users: Here's what's happening with the popular app

In a recent report,Forbes claim to have reviewed materials that show that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance planned to monitor US citizens' location data. The China-based team would have had access to this sensitive data without users' permisson or knowlegde, which could jeopardise national security.

The team in charge of the monitoring project is led by executive Song Ye in Bijeing who reports directly to ByteDance co-founder and CEO Rubo Liang. It is alleged in the article:

The Internal Audit team also planned to collect TikTok data about the location of a U.S. citizen who had never had an employment relationship with the company

TikTok’s response

TikTok have come out and unequivocally denied all claims against them in a series of recent Twitter posts stating that Forbes’ report, ‘lacks both rigour and journalistic integrity’.

They go on to say that:

Specifically, Forbes chose not to include the portion of our statement that disproved the feasibility of its core allegation: TikTok does not collect precise GPS location information from US users, meaning TikTok could not monitor US users in the way the article suggested.

However Forbes have remained steadfast in their response, commenting in aBBC article

We are confident in our sourcing, and we stand by our reporting.

Controversy

TikTok have been embroiled in a number of security issues over recent years, with concerns over whether or not sensitive data could be exposed to the Chinese government. A report onGizmodo stated:

The company is involved in an ongoing negotiation with regulators to address national security concerns, but the Forbes report seems to confirm some of the worst fears about the social media app.

TikTok is the world's fastest-growing social media app with more than 3.9 billion downloads. It has grossed more than $6.2bn (£5.5bn) from in-app spending since its launch in 2017, as per the BBC.

Sources used:

- Forbes 'TikTok Parent ByteDance Planned To Use TikTok To Monitor The Physical Location Of Specific American Citizens'

- BBC'TikTok denies it could be used to track US citizens'

-Gizmodo 'New Report Seems to Confirm the Worst Fears About How TikTok Uses Data'

- Twitter TikTokComms

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