Thread by @BrendanCarrFCC

For years, TikTok represented that none of the sensitive data that it collects on U.S. users is available to personnel inside China.

Then leaked internal materials revealed this to be nothing more than gaslighting.

A deeply reported story broke in 2022 that pulled back the curtain on TikTok’s data flows back into China.

Based on leaked audio from 80 internal TikTok meetings, the report revealed that “Everything is seen in China,” as one TikTok official put it.

And that “everything” is more than just your average cat video. 

TikTok collects reams of highly sensitive data on U.S. users, including location data, search and browsing histories, keystroke patterns, and biometric identifiers, including faceprints and voiceprints

Personnel in Beijing use this sensitive data for malign purposes. 

For instance: a Beijing-based team used it to spy on specific Americans—namely, reporters that had written about TikTok’s ties to the CCP.

DOJ is investigating.

Internal TikTok docs have also revealed a sophisticated tool that allowed TikTok employees-including those in China-to access sensitive & private user info

➡️ including on "several Biden family members, U.S. senators, governors, state attorneys general”

Then TikTok was caught in more lies.

CEO Shou Chew testified before Congress that “American data has always been stored in Virginia and Singapore.”

But reports revealed that TikTok had stored the most sensitive financial information of its biggest stars on servers in China.

A TikTok employee also revealed that TikTok maintains an internal mapping tool—which the employee calls “NSA To Go”—that allows TikTok to obtain sensitive info on users, including real-time updates on U.S. users

“a key to building a ‘digital dossier,’” the employee said.

Detailed reports have established that TikTok and ByteDance are controlled by the CCP. 

The control extends from personnel that are CCP members, internal CCP committees at ByteDance, and the CCP’s golden share, to China’s nat sec law + much more:

aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.…

Examination of the TikTok algorithm also provides evidence of the CCP’s ultimate control over the app.

Analysis shows that the average TikTok user is more likely to be exposed to content favorable to the CCP than a user of other major social media

TikTok search results for “PLA” overwhelmingly pro CCP, for instance.

Another study similarly shows that TikTok content is amplified or suppressed based on whether it aligns with the CCP’s interests.

Massive difference in pro-CCP content on TikTok compared to other major social media.

“It’s not believable that this could happen organically.”

Likewise, a 2020 analysis found that the top videos for #Xinjiang on TikTok were 15% pro-CCP (denying persecution of Uyghurs), 33% propaganda (depicting Xinjiang in an exclusively idyllic way), 40% entertainment, & just 12% critical of the CCP.

Another report uncovered a series of “sensitive words” lists or monitoring tools that TikTok’s parent, ByteDance, maintains.
 
They “extend well beyond standard moderation blocklists” and cover U.S. political topics to Uyghurs + more,

On the foreign influence front, ahead of the most recent U.S. midterms, TikTok allowed CCP state media to run accounts (without disclosing the state media tie) that targeted U.S. politicians for criticism and pushed divisive content about social issue.