China-owned TikTok denies it may use location data to trace U.S. customers

TikTok on Friday denied that it used particular location information to trace sure U.S. people, pushing again towards a Forbes report that alleged the Chinese language-owned video app was planning on finishing up such monitoring.

On Thursday, Forbes printed an article alleging TikTok, which is owned by Chinese language agency ByteDance, deliberate to make use of its app “to observe the non-public location of some particular Americans,” citing supplies considered by the publication.

Different allegations embrace:

• The monitoring is carried out by TikTok father or mother ByteDance’s Inner Audit and Threat Management division whose chief studies on to the CEO.
• The division primarily conducts investigations into misconduct by workers but it surely additionally deliberate on an event to gather location information a couple of U.S. citizen who by no means labored on the firm.

The Forbes article additionally stated that its unclear whether or not any information was really collected.

TikTok hit again on the article in a collection of tweets claiming it lacks “each rigor and journalistic integrity.”

TikTok stated Forbes “selected to not embrace the portion of our assertion that disproved the feasibility of its core allegation: TikTok doesn’t gather exact GPS location data from US customers, that means TikTok couldn’t monitor US customers in the best way the article advised.”

TikTok added that its app has by no means been used to “goal” any members of the U.S. authorities, activists, public figures or journalists.

Forbes was not instantly out there for remark when contacted by CNBC.

TikTok has had a testing couple of years within the U.S. ever since former President Donald Trump ordered the app to divest its U.S. enterprise claiming it threatened nationwide safety. Washington has been involved that information collected on U.S. residents by TikTok may get into the arms of the Chinese language authorities.

In July, TiKTok CEO Shou Zi Chew admitted that “workers exterior the U.S., together with China-based workers, can have entry to TikTok U.S. consumer information topic to a collection of sturdy cybersecurity controls and authorization approval protocols overseen by our U.S.-based safety workforce.”

However the firm stated on the time it was enterprise a significant initiative known as Challenge Texas, which is meant to “totally safeguard consumer information and U.S. nationwide safety pursuits.” This contains storing all U.S. information by default in Oracle’s cloud.