TikTok is firing back fiercely at a report published by leading media outlet Forbes.
The report accused the platform of tracking down location data specifics belonging to a few US Citizens. Moreover, the news came in the form of several tweets where TikTok blasted Forbes for only publishing a chunk of the story and leaving out the main aspect which was related to how the video app does not collect GPS details of American users.
In the published article, TikTok’s parent firm ByteDance was called out for making use of the location data through devices belonging to American users.
This particular article in question was published yesterday and went about alleging how ByteDance’s Audit Team was given the duty to keep a careful watch on those working for the corporation or those who may have worked for it in the past.
Around two Americans were the targets outlined by the audit team that was never linked with the firm. And although Forbes is very adamant that it has done its research and made the conclusion, TikTok is labeling it as complete rubbish.
Now, Forbes says all the details in the report have come after careful review and there are no details on why they were tracked and who exactly they were. But the Chinese parent firm of TikTok set out to do it as it would put a lot of people at risk.
Forbes's new report has also accused the platform and ByteDance of never responding to questions about if its audit team ever went on targeting politicians in America or any activists and public figures or journalists. Moreover, they compared it to the likes of a grey ball initiative set out by Uber. This was designed to target some specific users and even went on to mislead regulators about the app.
But here, TikTok says it was never utilized for the purpose of targeting people arising in such groups and it would never change its rules of in-app experiences for a few specifics. This isn’t a huge denial of considerations made for particular targeting and that’s a very interesting point worth a mention.
The platform is only speaking about how it was never used for the purpose as audit teams do engage themselves in some particulars that are preset from the start and hence go about extracting information required to carry out an internal investigation.
Similarly, it spoke in detail about anyone that was found doing what Forbes has accused in the report would be terminated from their job immediately.
TikTok has been targeted for similar reasons in the past and that’s why a lot of US lawmakers are keeping a close watch on what the app may be involved in and whether or not data belonging to American citizens were being shared with databases in China.
Let’s not forget the infamous article that BuzzFeed News published about data belonging to Americans being accessed by authorities located in China. And although it denied the accusations, a lot of concerns were raised on the matter.
Read next: New Study Says More Than 50% Of Passwords Are Reused And Put User Data At Risk
The report accused the platform of tracking down location data specifics belonging to a few US Citizens. Moreover, the news came in the form of several tweets where TikTok blasted Forbes for only publishing a chunk of the story and leaving out the main aspect which was related to how the video app does not collect GPS details of American users.
In the published article, TikTok’s parent firm ByteDance was called out for making use of the location data through devices belonging to American users.
2/ I’m glad they say TikTok hasn't been used to "target" some specific groups. I am nonetheless concerned that they planned to use it to monitor specific Americans, which is what we reported. Also, FWIW, they didn’t answer this question when we asked it to them on Wed.
— Emily Baker-White (@ebakerwhite) October 21, 2022
This particular article in question was published yesterday and went about alleging how ByteDance’s Audit Team was given the duty to keep a careful watch on those working for the corporation or those who may have worked for it in the past.
Around two Americans were the targets outlined by the audit team that was never linked with the firm. And although Forbes is very adamant that it has done its research and made the conclusion, TikTok is labeling it as complete rubbish.
Now, Forbes says all the details in the report have come after careful review and there are no details on why they were tracked and who exactly they were. But the Chinese parent firm of TikTok set out to do it as it would put a lot of people at risk.
Forbes's new report has also accused the platform and ByteDance of never responding to questions about if its audit team ever went on targeting politicians in America or any activists and public figures or journalists. Moreover, they compared it to the likes of a grey ball initiative set out by Uber. This was designed to target some specific users and even went on to mislead regulators about the app.
But here, TikTok says it was never utilized for the purpose of targeting people arising in such groups and it would never change its rules of in-app experiences for a few specifics. This isn’t a huge denial of considerations made for particular targeting and that’s a very interesting point worth a mention.
The platform is only speaking about how it was never used for the purpose as audit teams do engage themselves in some particulars that are preset from the start and hence go about extracting information required to carry out an internal investigation.
Similarly, it spoke in detail about anyone that was found doing what Forbes has accused in the report would be terminated from their job immediately.
TikTok has been targeted for similar reasons in the past and that’s why a lot of US lawmakers are keeping a close watch on what the app may be involved in and whether or not data belonging to American citizens were being shared with databases in China.
Let’s not forget the infamous article that BuzzFeed News published about data belonging to Americans being accessed by authorities located in China. And although it denied the accusations, a lot of concerns were raised on the matter.
Read next: New Study Says More Than 50% Of Passwords Are Reused And Put User Data At Risk