TikTok Confirms its Chinese Employees Have Access to US Data

TikTok said certain employees outside the US can access information from American users, attracting more criticism from the US lawmakers who have raised alarms about the social network’s data-sharing practices.

The company admitted such practice existed in a letter to nine US senators who accused TikTok and its parent company, chinese ByteDance, of monitoring US citizens and demanded answers on whether China-based employees have access to US users’ data and what is their role in shaping TikTok’s algorithm.

In a letter to the senators, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew wrote that currently, China-based employees who clear a number of internal security protocols can access certain information on TikTok’s US users, including public videos and comments. However, none of that information is shared with the Chinese government, Chew said.

TikTok said it’s working with the US government on strengthening data security considering private information. This new effort, called “Project Texas,” includes physically storing US information in data centers on US servers owned by software giant Oracle Corp. The social network also announced it was shifting its platform to Oracle’s cloud infrastructure, which means the app and the algorithm will be accessed and deployed for US users from domestic data centers.