TikTok, the ubiquitous video-sharing platform, continues to face questions about its U.S. data security and independence from its Chinese-owned parent company ByteDance.
In March 2023, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified in Congress against a potential ban on short-form video social media unless it is sold to an American company.
He assured lawmakers that U.S. data is secured and protected against foreign access through Project Texas.
Project Texas: A Promise of Separation
The $1.5-billion initiative launched in 2022 aimed to address these security concerns by storing U.S. user data on American soil and severing ties with ByteDance.
“The technology that powers the TikTok app in the U.S. runs an Oracle secure cloud environment, and our plans include appointing other trusted third parties to independently assess the security of the environment on an ongoing basis,” a video posted on the Project Texas website said.
“This U.S. team is employed by a separate company called U.S. Data Security or USDS that will operate separately from the rest of TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance,” the video continued.
However, this was not enough, as doubts over TikTok divulging U.S. user data to China only escalated.
From cultivating community to business booming, there are millions of reasons to #KeepTikTok in the US ❤️ pic.twitter.com/aoRJl5Rrq6
— TikTok US (@tiktok_us) March 27, 2024
Just last month, the bill that forces the company to sell or face a U.S. ban was approved by the House of Representatives in a unanimous decision.
TikTok continues to fight against the TikTok Divestiture Bill through its campaigns, but recent reports and ongoing political pressure paint a murkier picture.
Doubts About TikTok’s Independence From ByteDance
Doubts about TikTok’s independence from ByteDance are piling up, with recent allegations coming from 11 former employees.
Although not all are in agreement, they speak out to Fortune about their previous experiences sharing U.S. user data with ByteDance executives.
These allegations included instances where U.S. user information containing names, emails, and IP addresses was reportedly sent to China in a spreadsheet file.
“I worked on a project that gave U.S. data to China,” Evan Turner, a former senior data scientist at TikTok, told Fortune.“There were Americans that were working in upper management that were completely complicit in this.”
SCOOP: A TikTok data scientist says he was assigned a Seattle-based manager on paper, while actually reporting to a Beijing-based ByteDance executive, who ordered him to regularly email U.S. data in spreadsheets to ByteDance workers in China during 2022. https://t.co/4eDzYR9jxR
— Alexandra Sternlicht (@iamsternlicht) April 15, 2024
Further concerns emerged regarding internal communication tools used by both companies. ByteDance-run messaging platform Lark and VPN network Seal raised red flags for some ex-employees.
Their accessibility to ByteDance employees potentially provided a backdoor for accessing U.S. user data.
“You could never really get any straight answers that could be solid enough to bring back to your client to let them know that [Lark] is a trustworthy platform and that their American data is safe,” Nnete Matima, whose work included selling Lark to corporate clients, revealed.
“They are not transparent to the point where I had to lose a deal because I couldn’t answer basic security questions that people are entitled to,” she added.
Not Everyone Is Suspicious of TikTok
TikTok vehemently denied these allegations, dismissing them as "unfounded assertions from disgruntled ex-employees.”
The social media platform maintains that Project Texas demonstrates its commitment to data security and user privacy, pointing to the creation of a dedicated U.S. security team.
Some former employees also believe that TikTok’s Project Texas is not just for show, even arguing that the company has had to work extra hard compared to its American-owned counterparts.
“TikTok has had to do things to the 10th or 11th degree compared to what Meta or Google has had to do—solely because they’re owned by a Chinese company,” Jacob Wallach, an ex-TikTok global sales manager, said.
Unresolved Issues Threaten TikTok's Future
On April 11, U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) Commissioner Jacob Helberg and Khosla Ventures and Lifelong Technologist Founder Vinod Khosla published an open letter to senators.
The open letter called for senators to pass the TikTok Divestiture Bill, stating that “TikTok is a Chinese weapon and it's time to divest it from CCP [Chinese Communist Party] control.”
https://t.co/DlMEutInKqpic.twitter.com/5F5CnTPxhA
— Jacob Helberg (@jacobhelberg) April 18, 2024
“TikTok is entirely controlled by ByteDance, which obediently follows China’s censorship and surveillance laws and completely ignores ours. Beijing can command ByteDance to use TikTok however it sees fit — that is their law,” the open letter stated.
With lingering questions about data sharing, the effectiveness of Project Texas, and the extent of ByteDance's control over TikTok's U.S. operations, the app's future remains uncertain.
