In a fresh broadside against one of the world’s most popular technology companies, the Justice Department late Friday accused TikTok of harnessing the capability to gather bulk information on users based on views on divisive social issues like gun control, abortion and religion.

Government lawyers wrote in documents filed to the federal appeals court in Washington that TikTok and its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance used an internal web-suite system called Lark to enable TikTok employees to speak directly with ByteDance engineers in China.

TikTok employees used Lark to send sensitive data about U.S. users, information that has wound up being stored on Chinese servers and accessible to ByteDance employees in China, federal officials said.

One of Lark’s internal search tools, the filing states, permits ByteDance and TikTok employees in the U.S. and China to gather information on users’ content or expressions, including views on sensitive topics, such as abortion or religion. Last year, the Wall Street Journal reported TikTok had tracked users who watched LGBTQ content through a dashboard the company said it had since deleted.

  • braindefragger@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    3 months ago

    But did all those calls actually result in anything? No, Tik Tok is still being banned.

    I wear a helmet and a seatbelt because I’m aware of the potential injuries that could occur if I don’t. I’m not going to stop wearing a helmet because it hasn’t saved my life yet.