China-based team at TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, planned to use the TikTok app to monitor the personal location of some specific American citizens, according to materials reviewed byThe team behind the monitoring project — ByteDance’s Internal Audit and Risk Control department — is led by Beijing-based executive Song Ye, who reports to ByteDance cofounder and CEO Rubo Liang.
TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan said that TikTok collects approximate location information based on users’ IP addresses to “among other things, help show relevant content and ads to users, comply with applicable laws, and detect and prevent fraud and inauthentic behavior."indicates that ByteDance's Internal Audit team was planning to use this location information to surveil individual American citizens, not to target ads or any of these other purposes.
The internal audit team uses a data request system known to employees as the “green channel,” according to documents and records from Lark, ByteDance’s internal office management software. These documents and records show that “green channel” requests for information about U.S. employees have pulled that data from mainland China.
“Like most companies our size, we have an internal audit function responsible for objectively auditing and evaluating the company and our employees' adherence to our codes of conduct,” said ByteDance spokesperson Jennifer Banks in a statement. “This team provides its recommendations to the leadership team."
'However, unlike YouTube, which collects your data for Google, TikTok allows third-party trackers on its platform – so that means that there’s no telling where your Tiktok data goes. Those third-party trackers can also track your activity even after you close Tiktok.'
China is trying to do what usa is actually doing, i mean CIA to be specific. Not supporting china anyways or tiktok. Tiktok is banned in india and also many chinese apps
Well, every social media app that we use today is capable of doing that and most have been doing this already.
That's why India banned it. Wise choice.
This is being sold as a tracking station for Chinese citizens aboard. Yeah, if that premise is true, it shouldn’t be done on American soil. At worse, it’s most likely spying on us/US. Who gave the go ahead to Chinese?
Forbes is still independent economic newspaper or an instrument of the real deep state?
lukedepulford Planned Vs Already Happened!
Why do Americans think they are so important? No one cares about your mundane lives. Get over yourselves.
who could possibly have seen this coming
Fake news. Make outrageous claims then say you cannot reveal any source or evidence. 🙄
Block ch!nese apps asap.
Source - trust me bro
dscheinm So basically what apps have been allowed to do in the US simply by paying off lawmakers
It looks really bad. It could be a spy app rather than a dancing and shopping app. That's why they need an alternative that isn't tied too much with the government. Something web3, such as the Vorz, as a safe alternative.
Ayei_Eloheichem 🇨🇳📲
So many Americans bitching about freedom while using tiktok 7 hours a day
🤣🤣 no , tiktok is hosted entirely in US by Oracle corp . It’s Google, Facebook etc who are collecting all data about users 🤣🤣 Stop gaslighting
TikTok is terrorism and needs to be outlawed. Proponents of TikTok are advocates of terrorism.
The Philippines has their own version now lol
The Philippines have their own version now lol vorz
Lots of alternative out there if you hated TikTok that much. I think TikTok is a great app until the government wants your info for some nefarious use lol.
This is my shocked face 😶
Cue the ChiCom bots to swarm and deny!
Lmao 'news'
Maureen Shanahan of TikTok retweets the Forbes story. Seems to me the story is a damning indictment of TikTok and Ms. Shanahan should resign and get 'an honest job'. Am I missing something here?
Fake news, next.
Who doesn’t?
“Planned/planning” How fucking dumb do you think your readers are?
And the media grilled Trump when he tried to ban TikTok in America
Why is this news to anyone? You don’t think the CCP wants to large scale bonesaw half of us?
omg like the phone that was made in China already does omggggggg nonense from the capitalist rag. what's the nsa up to these days? facebook?
sschwankert
The fact that Facebook, Twitter, and other social apps do the same demonstrates how Filipinos are paranoid about their data as a result of being bullied on their own soil. Take WPS, for example, which is now controlled by the Chinese CCP, not by American Democracy.
Yeah… TikTok is so interested in which laundry you go every week
TikTokComms has responded comprehensively to your article, they allege you omitted a crucial part of their statement that they do not collect specific location information so the tracking you allege is not even possible. Why did you omit an important part of their response?
Ban TikTok!
WTH .. Eff are you not taking action against tiktok? CIA NSAGov StateDept DeptofDefense potus
Nothing new. Nothing surprising
Well duh.
Trump told us this would happen!
CIA FBI DHSgov What are we waiting for..?
Nah not China!
Forbes serving up a juicy, fundamentally unsubstantiated nothingburger to serve the narrative of the day: China bad, America good. While TikTok's 'planning' to do these things, the US has been running PRISM for 15 years now - with no plans to stop.
I really don’t mind, will the Chinese launch a tomahawk missile at me or what?
Just ban it
Damn Trump right again. Crazy
Source: Meta
WOW!
I had TikTok for two days last year and deleted it when I realized what was happening psychologically with those short videos and constant ads - Not good. The CCP spying on us was just another reason to never download that app again.
I remember a man that once warned of the dangers of TikTok. We didn’t like the color of his skin and mean tweets so we sent him away.
BrentToderian So desperate to demonise the Chinese but maybe concentrate on what the US gov is upto, huh?
ThelastofEDM CarnageMarch 🫥
PierreIsLying2U The blessing as well as the curse... Behind every good, there is plenty of evil, that is lurking already.
fku fake news
When you have a SIM or GPS your location is already known by the satellites and the only thing you can do is not use your smartphone
All apps track you. Nothing new.
HonieeBean Nice to know I’m so interesting 🤔 makes me feel special 🥹
fatimazsaid Why should facebook and twitter have all the fun?
For what 🤦🏽♂️
The monitoring & tracking had been there long time ago, who would be so naïve to think it is clean?
RealAndyLeeShow D'uh, no shit. Never installed it.
kylenabecker
Now india banning the app totally justifies it.
Wow and the superpower America is still allowing its citizens to use TikTok.. haha greatest nation of the world. Since the news is out to the masses, i am sure the CIA or others would be fully aware and yet no action taken or were the spy agencies napping?
RealAndyLeeShow I have said it before and it’s worth saying again and again until people get the message. China will use every possible method to spy on the West. Every data point that China collects, no matter how “insignificant” will be weaponizes against us.
XadrezVerbal YoMatiasPinto É aquilo q vcs disseram lá atrás, qnd os EUA estavam peitando as redes sociais que não pertenciam às empresas estadunidenses
Get it off your phones. Twitter is next.
To whom Hitler 2 Putin pay more : to Tucker or to Trump ?
you are here👉
It's okay China, you don't have to worry about me, because the NSA, FBI, and CIA are probably already watching me fap regularly since I'm an American citizen.
Oh no. They’d be able to know where any teenager was at anytime.
Imagine every other news paper writing same article about every US based company because they are doing the same since ages.
Breaking news but entirely predictable
What “specific” citizens?
kristina_wong This isn’t new. Professionals have been saying this since 2016
Thx to JoeBiden to ley this happens. Can't help to think about how Trump was always right about these things.
That’s what happens when Biden’s is China’s little bish
They just going to see my laying in bed watching the tok
Maybe now we ban this app?
Who’s surprised at this?
What else have both Trump and Biden administration agreed upon besides TikTok being sketchy?
juliamacfarlane Hoax again
redsteeze The purposes of the app are intelligence, manipulation, and corruption of minors.
Trump should have banned TikTock before this app spread 🙄. Trade war failed. What Trump win versus China ? Honkong. Traid. TECH. NAH
How much did the metaverse company pay for this piece?
cocacolaaddictt Blender_Marxist 😱
shitheele2
karaswisher the COO was great, but we’ve gotta burn this company to the ground.
Trumpppp ❤️❤️
RealGeorgeWebb1
Is anyone really surprised by this, given the history and extent of CCP surveillance both within and outside their country? The US government must take action now to safeguard the privacy and security of American citizens by banning TikTok.
America will do anything to undermine globally successful Chinese tech companies. So easy to do since no evidence need be provided publicly, just anonymous sources. 🤡
robert_spalding
Corporate profit is trumping National Security. TikTok should not be available in the U.S.
Is this...did we not know this about tic tok?
We are in a different stratosphere of espionage. The concept of privacy is virtually dead ☠️— go deal with it.
It blows my mind that the US government allows this app to be available. It's time to ban it. We've known for years now that China is using it to steal info about the US and our citizens
Ban TikTok
I bet they’re tracking the farting guy. Or the guy dressed as a bush scaring people
Unexpected
posth And the user location tracking results are in: 94.5% of tiktok users use the app while on the toilet
posth “breaking scoop“ makes me think that your broken ice cream scoop lolol
Why is this China state app still allowed? tim_cook
Kids still will use it , hell everyone that is using it now will still use it. People do not care for some weird reason.
posth Doesn’t every social media app made in every country already do this?
I pretty much assumed it was happening already.
Gonna be like FB with Cambridge Analytica but magnitudes of order worse.
Not cool! Only my own government gets to target me with a drone strike using my cell phone location!
That is why I have never installed this app on my phone and never will.
Why is this Chinese spy tool and child brainwashing tool not banned?
Ban Tik Tok!! Lomotif !!
Spartan_Intel
T_DMac dawg they really could've done anything they wanted
YWNReporter What adult has tic tok anyway?
Ban TikTok
The risk of TikTok is one of the few things Ezra Klein and Ted Cruz agree on.
😂 like US companies never did it 😂
Sus
WHCOS Ban TikTok, this is a national security tisk
They can't track you if you do you don't use it... 🤷♂️
A TL;DR Thread
Ban this damn app ffs. We already have ccp trojan horses
E__Strobel So Trump was right? Really?
Should have been banned long ago, everyday longer is irresponsible
Wonder how much META paid for this story?
CooperWilliam1
Get this app off our shores and protect the American people.
Every app can track our physical location.
Wow!
Breaking: Google does the same and is not even hiding it
TIKTOK is watching you!!🧐
Now that explains why Facebook(Meta) was so Interested to Buy TikTok...
YOUUUUU DONNNNNNN'TTTTTT SAYYYYYYYYY
but we can't get our congress or president to understand its a national security threat that needs to be Ban everywhere!
planned to? They have been doing this for years
So? They all do it... TikTok is informative, has sensible censoring and 1000 times better than this wipe ass sight.
yashar That app has never attracted me for some reason
seanmdav Even more surveillance
👀
No way!
redsteeze Pretty smart if you wanted to send cruise missiles or guided artillery down on specific groups of people. CCP would never do that tho
Facebook's been doing this for decades lol who gives a fuck
redsteeze What a suprise. Wasn't that a right-wing nutjob 'conspiracy theory'?
Umm, duh?
Good on ya, but haven’t we known this for years?
Plain & Simple Bantiktok - Start using an American 🇺🇸 app like $BBIG lomotifofficial 💪🏼 LFG BBIG 🦍 fam‼️ Bighomiecoffee LetsBounceBack_ WarTimeCEO78 notBBIG LorneRoss3 Aaron_5021 FrankDaTech magicytes Official_MrRic rossjmiller erikfinman JeffTay68778958
redsteeze Hopefully this isn't a surprise, but then again people did actually vote for Joe biden
Trump was right about ONE thing, go figure that it would be about a social media platform.
svensundgaard No one should be surprised by this.
🤣🤣🤣
WOW seeTheWideAngle LeeSmithDC
carlquintanilla Just ban this clown 🤡 app already
So Trump was right. Again.
OpenOutcrier This was uncovered years ago as they were tracking military movements. Trump wanted TikTok banned for good reasons.
Biden should’ve banned this ping pong app, but his party and him are starved and desperate for votes, willling to let this ping pog app from vachyna to continue leeching on the US
Looking into switching and finally removing TikTok. Pls see: US-own lomotifofficial own by BBIGshares
Doesn't the CIA already do this with pretty much every other app?
Just ban TikTok
shut down titkok
OpenOutcrier Oh just ban TikTok already. Lol
No one ever reads the terms of service From 2016: 7,500 Online Shoppers Unknowingly Sold Their Souls
Source: Meta executives
Trump told you…
The team behind the monitoring project, ByteDance's China-based Internal Audit team, is led by a Beijing-based executive, who reports to ByteDance’s CEO and cofounder.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
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