Photo Credit: Solen Feyissa
The FBI and the Department of Justice are now investigating TikTok’s spying on U.S. journalists.
The DOJ Criminal Division, Fraud Section, is working alongside the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia on the case, according to a report from Forbes. Officials have subpoenaed information from ByteDance regarding efforts by its employees to access location data of a U.S. journalist using the TikTok app.
ByteDance has been using TikTok to surveil U.S. citizens and the investigation is ongoing into ByteDance’s surveillance practices. “We have strongly condemned the actions of the individuals found to have been involved, and they are no longer employed at ByteDance,” says a ByteDance spokesperson. “Our internal investigation is still ongoing and we will cooperate with any official investigations when brought to us,” the statement from ByteDance spokesperson Jennifer Banks continues. TikTok did not offer a comment when asked for one.
The DOJ and the FBI are both a part of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). This committee is the one responsible for determining whether TikTok can continue to operate in the United States.
Earlier this week, CFIUS demanded ByteDance divest TikTok completely or face a nationwide ban of the app. The CFIUS has attempted to negotiate a security contract with TikTok for years now. The U.S. government is worried about the Chinese government having access to sensitive U.S. data or the ability to manipulate U.S. civic discourse online.
ByteDance has tried all manner of plans to prevent having to sell TikTok completely. It pledged to spend $1.5 billion on data sequestration, which would allow the company to continue to own TikTok. The plan would see TikTok U.S. user data managed by a U.S. based team subject to government oversight. These revelations that ByteDance was using TikTok data to surveil U.S. journalists may have flown in the face of that proposal, however.