Former TikTok employees say the Chinese app’s efforts to isolate U.S. user data from China, a hostile foreign country run by a communist regime, are ineffective, calling the effort “largely superficial.” ”.
In 2022, TikTok launched an initiative known as Project Texas, claiming it would keep U.S. user data away from the app’s Chinese parent company ByteDance, which is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party.
TikTok banned (Anadolu/Getty)
“Project Texas is an unprecedented project dedicated to ensuring that all Americans who use TikTok have peace of mind and confidence that their data is safe and the platform is free from outside influence. It’s an initiative.” TikTok Said of initiative.
But the efforts were “mostly superficial,” with TikTok staff continuing to work closely with Beijing-based ByteDance executives and several former employees of the app after Project Texas was implemented. . Said luck:
As the House of Representatives voted in March to force ByteDance to sell its stake in TikTok, 11 former employees interviewed by Fortune told a very different story. Many former employees, four of whom were hired just last year, say at least some of TikTok’s business was tied to its parent company during their tenure, and that the company’s independence from China was largely cosmetic. There is.
As an example, Katie Pulis, TikTok’s former head of global business marketing, argued in a lawsuit that the Chinese app was never independent from ByteDance.
“Despite attempts to appear independent, TikTok’s day-to-day management and business decisions were made directly from ByteDance’s top-level management in China,” the complaint states. ing.
Pulis sued TikTok in February for discrimination, claiming she was fired because her Beijing-based bosses didn’t fully consider her modesty.
Former TikTok employees allege in their complaint that ByteDance executives began claiming more control over the app’s day-to-day operations in 2020, contrary to what the social media platform had been communicating to the public.
TikTok also held bimonthly meetings led by ByteDance Chairman Lidong Zhang, where management discussed performance with ByteDance executives and drafted plans for the next two months, Pulis said. Stated.
Additionally, Evan Turner, who worked as a senior data scientist at TikTok from April to September 2022, added that the app continued to work closely with ByteDance, despite claims to the contrary.
Turner cited an incident in which he said he was reassigned to a Seattle-based executive, whom he had never actually met, and was instead told to continue working with a ByteDance executive in China. However, he pointed out that ByteDance claimed to report directly to American executives. paper.
These moves appear to be aimed at placating U.S. lawmakers who have expressed concerns about the risks TikTok poses to U.S. users and the United States in general.
As reported by Breitbart News, the US Senate is considering a bill that would ban ByteDance from selling TikTok if it does not sell it within six months. The Chinese app then purchased $2.1 million in TV ads in battleground states, apparently with the purpose of interfering in the U.S. election.
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