TikTok: ByteDance's Alleged Role in Facilitating Surveillance on Hong Kong Activists

ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, has been charged with enabling members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) access to the information of Hong Kong human rights activists and demonstrators.

Former ByteDance executive Yintao Yu claims in a US court filing that users who submitted "protest-related content" were also recognized and monitored.

According to Mr. Yu, the CCP members had access to US TikTok user data as well.

A spokesman for ByteDance denied the charges and referred to them as "baseless."

The accusations come in a document made this week in San Francisco Superior Court as part of a case Mr. Yu filed.

According to Mr. Yu's submission, members of a CCP committee had access to a "superuser" or "god user" account that permitted them to examine all data gathered by ByteDance.

Additionally, he said that although the committee members were physically present at ByteDance's headquarters in Beijing, they were not ByteDance employees.

Senior officials were aware of this, according to Mr. Yu, who served as the US branch's head of engineering for ByteDance for almost a year starting in August 2017.

The petition further stated that CCP committee members used their "god credential" in 2018 to "identify and locate the Hong Kong protesters, civil rights activists, and supporters of the protests".

Massive demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2014, known as the "Umbrella movement," were held in support of the demand for the freedom to choose one's own leader. Following then, there were less significant protests by civil rights advocates. Since Beijing clamped down with a harsh national security law in response to the anti-government rallies in 2019, most of this apparent opposition has vanished.

A ByteDance representative vehemently refuted the accusations when contacted by the BBC, saying: "We plan to vigorously oppose what we believe are baseless claims and allegations in this complaint."

They said that Mr. Yu worked for the company for less than a year and contributed to the now-defunct Flipagram app.

The statement continues, "It's curious that Mr. Yu has never raised these claims in the five years since his employment with Flipagram was terminated in July 2018." He is obviously trying to get media attention, the ByteDance representative continued.

Mr. Yu's allegations come as TikTok is being closely examined all around the world.

Shou Zi Chew, the chief executive of TikTok, was grilled for four and a half hours in March during a US congressional session.

Both Democrats and Republicans questioned Mr. Chew over the app's data security and privacy policies as well as its suspected connections to Beijing.

A TikTok representative said that the politicians were "grandstanding" after the fact.

The first US state to adopt a broad ban on the Chinese-owned video-sharing network was Montana in May.

The ban is planned to take effect in January 2024. TikTok users who already possess the program are still permitted to use it, despite the ban on app stores selling the program.

TikTok filed a lawsuit to prevent Montana from enforcing the ban because it interferes with its right to free expression in the US. In December, Montana, a state with a population of little over a million, outlawed the program on official computers.

According to TikTok, 150 million Americans use the app. Although the app's user base has grown recently, adolescents and users in their 20s continue to be its most loyal followers.