U.S. Lawmakers Launch Investigation Into TikTok Over Sharing U.S. Data With CCP

It is reported that, two high ranking Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, James Comer (R-Ky.) and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) wrote a letter on July 14 to Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok.

They requested documents and information regarding recent reports that TikTok allowed China-based employees at its parent company, ByteDance to access American users’ private data.

The lawmakers also asked details about the relationship between TikTok and Beijing-based ByteDance, which has close working relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

TikTok is owned by Beijing-based technology conglomerate ByteDance, which has close working relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 

“The data collected by TikTok on U.S. users, such as browsing and search history, biometrics, location data, and other metadata, would be a massive national security risk in the hands of CCP intelligence,” wrote the lawmakers.

According to more than 80 TikTok internal meetings leaked recently, ByteDance’s Chinese employees have frequently accessed the non-public data of U.S users. In some cases, the China-based employees were authorized to access the data that the U.S. based employees were not.”