TikTok offers third-party monitoring if China spies on US users: report

According to reports, TikTok has proposed having an impartial, third-party monitor examine the social media app’s algorithms to determine if the Chinese government is gaining access to the data of American users.

As part of the rumored plan, U.S.-based technology companies such as Oracle would examine the code dictating how TikTok selects which videos to show users and which films to erase.

The proposed restructure is part of ByteDance’s effort to persuade US lawmakers that it does not let Beijing to spy on American users of its popular video-sharing platform.

The Wall Street Journal reports that TikTok has also proposed to establish a subsidiary, TikTok US Data Security (USDS), which would report to an external board with “primary fiduciary responsibility” to the US government.

The USDS would employ 2,500 individuals to supervise the safety mechanisms of the application. According to the Journal, no Chinese nationals would be hired because the subsidiary would be subject to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

The Treasury Department administers CFIUS as a federal agency. It is responsible for examining transactions involving foreign investment in the United States.

TikTok has been in discussions with CFIUS for the past two years in an effort to comply with the Biden administration’s demands to create protections that would protect the data of American citizens from alleged surveillance.

A spokeswoman for TikTok stated to the Journal, “We are not awaiting the conclusion of an agreement.”

TikTok has suggested a $1.5 billion reorganization that would enable other parties to monitor and protect the algorithm of their app.

We have made significant strides in implementing this solution over the past year and look forward to putting these worries to rest once and for all.

If no agreement is reached, the Biden administration might force ByteDance to sell the US division of TikTok, or it could prohibit the app entirely in the United States.

Several governors have tried to prohibit the use of TikTok on government-issued devices by state personnel.

ByteDance has consistently refuted claims that TikTok performs espionage for the Chinese government.

TikTok’s popularity has grown in recent years, notably among Generation Z millennials who have abandoned Facebook and Instagram in favor of it.

According to CNBC, TikTok is believed to have more than 700 million active users worldwide, 100 million of them are in the United States, a staggering number considering that the app had only 11 million American users in 2018.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy, told The Post, “certain US politicians’ remarks are nothing but baseless smears.”

“The company in question is a private enterprise that conducts business in the United States in accordance with market principles and international laws and regulations,” the spokesperson explained.

It should get fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory treatment from the U.S. government.

»TikTok offers third-party monitoring if China spies on US users: report«

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