One of Forbes in his article He claimed that China-based operator ByteDance planned to use the app to track the locations of US citizens. According to the American Business Journal
The tech company was able to access the data without the users knowing.
Forbes reports that ByteDance has set up a special commission to investigate abuses committed by current and former employees. The report does not reveal whether the data of US citizens was collected or organized, but according to the newspaper, there was a plan for that.
Obtaining location data from users’ devices in the United States.
TikTok denies these allegations. The on Twitter They stated that they have never impersonated the US government, just as they claimed that they did not misuse the personal data of activists, public figures and journalists. The company also denied that it collects location data from US users.
TikTok says the Forbes report lacks “journalistic integrity”.
We are confident with our sources, we have obtained original information and documents, so we stand by our coverage
– He said Forbes is the official spokesperson for the BBC.
According to TikTok, in June, data of US users was transferred to servers based in Austin-based Oracle.
They were fined a record sum
Scandals have accumulated around the company in recent years. In September, $30 million (about 12.3 billion HUF) They were fined In the UK, it was found that the video-sharing platform could handle the data of children under the age of 13 without proper consent.
According to the justification, TikTok did not provide enough information to users in a “concise, transparent and easy-to-understand manner”, and data belonging to a special category could be handled without legal justification, such as:
- racial and ethnic origin,
- political opinion,
- religious belief,
- sexual orientation,
- organizational membership, as well
- Genetic, biometric or health data.
We all want children to be able to learn and experience the digital world, but with adequate data protection
Britain’s Information Commissioner John Edwards said regarding the case, adding: “Digital service companies have a legal duty to provide this protection, but in their initial opinion, TikTok did not meet this requirement.”
