ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok on Wednesday faced accusations of assisting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in spying on Hong Kong activists advocating for civil rights.
Yintao Yu, a former executive at ByteDance, has filed a court document in the US claiming that CCP members were granted access to the data, allowing identification and monitoring of Hong Kong protesters and activists who uploaded “protest-related content.” Additionally, Mr. Yu alleges that these CCP members were able to access the data of TikTok users in the United States. ByteDance has denied these allegations, dismissing them as unfounded.
These claims have emerged as part of a lawsuit brought by Mr. Yu in the San Francisco Superior Court. In the filing, Mr. Yu stated that members of a CCP committee possessed a “superuser” credential, also known as the “god user” credential, which allowed them to view all the data collected by ByteDance. He further claimed that these committee members were not ByteDance employees but physically present at the company’s Beijing offices, and this was well-known among senior executives.
According to the court filing, in 2018, the CCP committee members utilized their “god credential” to identify and locate Hong Kong protesters, civil rights activists, and supporters of the protests. Hong Kong witnessed significant protests in 2014, known as the Umbrella Movement, where citizens demanded the right to elect their own leader. Subsequently, there were smaller demonstrations led by civil rights activists. However, much of the visible dissent has diminished since Beijing implemented a stringent national security law following the anti-government protests in 2019.
When contacted by a media house, a spokesperson for ByteDance strongly refuted the allegations, describing them as baseless. The spokesperson pointed out that Mr. Yu had worked for the company for less than a year, primarily on a discontinued app called Flipagram.
“It’s curious that Mr Yu has never raised these allegations in the five years since his employment for Flipagram was terminated in July 2018. His actions are clearly intended to garner media attention,” the ByteDance spokesperson stated.
These accusations come at a time when TikTok is facing intense scrutiny worldwide. In March, TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, faced extensive questioning during a US congressional hearing regarding the app’s data security, privacy practices, and alleged connections to Beijing. Following the hearing, a TikTok spokesperson dismissed the politicians’ inquiries as grandstanding.
Moreover, Montana recently in May became the first US state to pass a comprehensive ban on the Chinese-owned video-sharing platform. The ban is set to take effect in January 2024, making it illegal for app stores to offer TikTok.
However, individuals who already have the app will not be prohibited from using it. TikTok has filed a lawsuit to block Montana from implementing the ban, arguing that it infringes upon US free speech rights. Montana, with a population of just over one million, had already banned the app on government devices in December 2022.
TikTok boasts 150 million American users and has seen an expansion in its user base, primarily among teenagers and users in their twenties, although it remains popular across various age groups.
