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The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating TikTok owner ByteDance over recent revelations that employees tracked down journalists to identify who leaked company data to the press, according to a new report. doing.
The Department of Justice and federal prosecutors for the Eastern District of Virginia have subpoenaed information from ByteDance that ByteDance employees are using the TikTok app to attempt to access location information and other personal user data of US journalists. The FBI is conducting interviews related to surveillance, according to two sources.”
Articles in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources, also confirmed the investigation today. ByteDance is based in China, and TikTok faces a potential ban in the US if it doesn’t cut ties with its China-based owner.
“We strongly condemn the actions of the individuals found to be involved and they are no longer employed by ByteDance,” the company told Forbes this week. If it is brought in, we will cooperate with the official investigation.”
Surveillance for US and UK journalists
ByteDance’s internal investigation was sparked by news reports detailing the surveillance and said that “employees tracked multiple journalists covering the company and used IP addresses and user We have discovered that we have gained unauthorized access to the data of our employees,” Forbes wrote in December, adding:
The investigation, known internally as Project Raven, came after BuzzFeed News published an article revealing that China-based ByteDance employees repeatedly accessed user data in the United States. Started in the summer. According to his internal ByteDance documents reviewed by Forbes, Project Raven involved the company’s chief security and privacy office, was known to TikTok’s global legal compliance officer, and was approved by his ByteDance employees in China. I was. Previously he tracked down his three Forbes journalists who worked for BuzzFeed News: Emily Baker-White, Katherine Schwab, and Richard Nieva.
Forbes wrote that the surveillance campaign “aimed to determine the source of the internal breach, following the drumbeat of an article exposing the company’s ongoing ties to China.” ByteDance’s chief internal auditor, Chris Lepitak, was reportedly fired, and Song Ye, a China-based executive Lepitak reported, resigned.
A Financial Times reporter was also reportedly targeted by the company. According to the company, two of her staff members in the United States and two of her staff members in China had access to her IP address and other personal data of her journalist Christina Criddle, FT, to determine if she I checked if I was near any ByteDance employee. She couldn’t find any leaks,” the FT she wrote in December.
Criddle wrote an article revealing that “dozens of staff have left TikTok’s London office, with some working 12-hour days or being demoted after taking time off,” according to the FT. is writing
TikTok said it would reorganize its internal audit and risk management department and remove all user data access and permissions for the department. We will update this article if we receive any further comments from the company.
