Yintao Yu, a former executive at ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has made serious allegations against the ruling Communist Party that members of the party utilized TikTok’s user data to identify and locate protesters during the Hong Kong demonstrations.
According to Yu, the Communist Party had unrestricted access to all user data, including information from users in the United States, thanks to a powerful “superuser” credential. This credential allowed a committee of party members to bypass data protection measures and closely monitor protesters, including tracking their movements, devices, and communications. However, ByteDance firmly denies these allegations.
While TikTok is available in various countries, its mainland China counterpart is known as Douyin. In 2020, TikTok withdrew its services from Hong Kong due to the enforcement of a stringent national security law. Users in Hong Kong attempting to access the app now receive an error message stating that TikTok is no longer available in the region.
In response to Yintao Yu’s claims, ByteDance has vehemently refuted the allegations, dismissing them as baseless. The company has emphasized that Yu never raised these concerns during his employment, which ended in 2018. ByteDance has expressed its commitment to challenging the accusations vigorously.
Charles Jung, Yu’s lawyer, provided insights into his client’s decision to come forward with the allegations. Jung explained that Yu was deeply distressed by the Congressional testimony of TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, who vehemently denied any Chinese authorities having access to user data. Motivated by a commitment to truth and the desire for accurate information to shape public policy, Yu chose to make these allegations known.
The sources for this piece include an article in BusinessInsider.