TikTok’s parent company reportedly accessed US journalists’ data
to totally separate user data from China. But it’s unclear what the outcome of those negotiations will be.to appease concerns that China-based employees could access US information. In his memo to employees, TikTok CEO Shou Chew said the company has “been systematically cutting off access points” now that “all” US user data is being handled by Oracle.
None of the individuals found to have directly participated in or overseen the misguided plan remain employed at ByteDance. We are continuing the investigation led by the Legal team.Julie Gao, CFO, will take over the IARC department and begin an immediate search for the new leader, who will report to her.
In addition, we will continue to assess and enhance our access controls. In this case in fact, access to certain US user information in the context of the misguided investigation was already limited by prior transfer of control to the US Data Security team, and those controls have been significantly improved and hardened since this initiative took place.
That is why I was deeply disappointed when I was notified of the situation Erich has described in his email, and I am sure you feel the same. The public trust that we have spent huge efforts building is going to be significantly undermined by the misconduct of a few individuals. No matter what the cause or the outcome was, this misguided investigation seriously violated the company’s Code of Conduct and is condemned by the company.
As Erich mentioned, the individuals involved misused their authority to obtain access to TikTok user data. This is unacceptable. We will continue to enhance these access protocols, which have already been significantly improved and hardened since this initiative took place.