Washington — In a new broadside against one of the world’s most popular technological businesses, the Justice Department accuses TikTok of utilizing the capability to collect large amounts of data on users depending on their views on sensitive social issues such as gun control, abortion, and religion.
In documents filed late Friday with the federal appeals court in Washington, US lawyers stated that TikTok and its Beijing-based parent firm ByteDance used an internal web-suite system called Lark to allow TikTok personnel to communicate directly with ByteDance engineers in China.
TikTok personnel used Lark to communicate sensitive data about US customers, which was eventually kept on Chinese servers and made available to ByteDance employees in China, according to federal officials.
Justice Department Says TikTok Collected US User Views On Issues Like Abortion And Gun Control
According to the lawsuit, one of Lark’s internal search tools allows ByteDance and TikTok workers in the United States and China to collect data on users’ content or emotions, including views on sensitive topics like abortion or religion. Last year, the Wall Street Journal claimed that TikTok used a dashboard to track customers who watched LGBTQ content, which the business later erased.
The latest court briefs are the government’s first significant defense in a critical legal struggle for the survival of the popular social media platform utilized by over 170 million Americans. According to a law signed by President Joe Biden in April, the corporation may risk a ban in a few months if it does not cut links with ByteDance.
The bill passed with bipartisan backing after senators and administration officials raised fears that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data or impact public opinion in Beijing’s favor by altering the algorithm that populates users’ feeds.
“‘Intelligence reporting further demonstrates that ByteDance and TikTok Global have taken action in response to (Chinese government) demands to censor content outside of China,” Casey Blackburn, a senior US intelligence official, wrote in a document that bolstered the government’s assertions.
The Justice Department issued a harsh warning about the potential for “covert content manipulation” by the Chinese government, claiming that the algorithm might be used to affect the content that users receive.
“By directing ByteDance or TikTok to covertly manipulate that algorithm, China could for example further its existing malign influence operations and amplify its efforts to undermine trust in our democracy and exacerbate social divisions,” according to the brief.
The Justice Department stated that the risk is more than theoretical, charging that TikTok and ByteDance personnel engage in a technique known as “heating,” in which particular videos are boosted in order to get a specific number of views. While this feature allows TikTok to curate and distribute popular material more widely, US officials believe it might potentially be used for malicious purposes.
Nothing in the redacted brief “changes the fact that the Constitution is on our side,” TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek stated.
“The TikTok ban would silence 170 million Americans’ voices, violating the 1st Amendment,” according to Haurek. “As we’ve stated previously, the government has never provided proof of its allegations, including when Congress passed this unlawful statute. Today, the administration is taking an unprecedented move while concealing sensitive information. We remain convinced that we will win in court.”
In the redacted portion of the court documents, the Justice Department stated that another tool triggered content suppression based on the use of specific terms. Certain tool policies apply to ByteDance users in China, where the business maintains a comparable app called Douyin, which adheres to Beijing’s rigorous censorship laws.
However, Justice Department officials stated that other policies may have applied to TikTok users outside of China. TikTok was looking into the existence of these policies and whether they had ever been applied in the United States before or around 2022, authorities said.
The government cites the Lark data transfers as evidence of why federal officials do not believe Project Texas, TikTok’s $1.5 billion mitigation plan to keep U.S. user data on servers owned and maintained by tech behemoth Oracle, is adequate to protect against national security issues.
Justice Department Says TikTok Collected US User Views On Issues Like Abortion And Gun Control
TikTok’s legal challenge to the law has relied mainly on allegations that the prospective ban violates the First Amendment by preventing the app from continuing to speak until it recruits a new owner through a lengthy divestiture process. It has also stated that divestment will alter the platform’s discourse by resulting in a version of TikTok that lacks the algorithm that has fuelled its popularity.
In its response, the Justice Department stated that TikTok had not made any valid free speech allegations, that the statute addresses national security concerns without targeting protected expression, and that China and ByteDance, as foreign businesses, are not protected under the First Amendment.
TikTok has also contended that US law discriminates based on beliefs, citing statements from senators disapproving of what they saw as an anti-Israel bias on the platform during the Gaza war.
Officials at the Justice Department dispute that argument, claiming that the law at issue reflects their ongoing concern that China could weaponise technology against US national security, a fear exacerbated by demands that companies controlled by Beijing turn over sensitive data to the government. They argue that TikTok’s current operating structure requires it to respond to those demands.
Oral arguments in the case are set for September.
SOURCE | AP
