TikTok has released a variety of facts about how it restricts Chinese access to user data in the U.S. in response to a question from Congress and has refuted recent claims concerning its data policies.
Following a BuzzFeed article alleging that Chinese ByteDance developers had unrestricted access to American user data for a while, fourteen Republican legislators and a Republican FCC commissioner wrote letters requesting information from TikTok regarding its privacy and security.
In an official letter dated June 30, TikTok reacted on Thursday amid calls for a ban. The corporation responded to the BuzzFeed article in a letter that The New York Times was able to receive, calling its statements “incorrect” and “not backed by facts.” It provided information on how user data is safeguarded in the United States.
“We’re proud to be able to serve a global community of more than a billion people who use TikTok to creatively express themselves and be entertained,” the company wrote. “We know we are among the most scrutinized platforms from a security standpoint, and we aim to remove any doubt about the security of U.S. user data.”
As an illustration, TikTok admitted that staff members based in China might have access to user data from the United States, but only after passing “a number of sophisticated cybersecurity controls and authorised approval mechanisms reviewed by our U.S.-based security team.”
The business claims that it has traditionally maintained US user data on Singaporean and American servers. It also maintained that it had not received any requests for user information from the Chinese government and that it would not comply with any requests to do so.
In addition, TikTok provided information regarding an internal project known as “Project Texas” that aims to “help create trust with users and key stakeholders.” Evaluation and revision of internal rules and operational procedures for TikTok are the main goals of the project.
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