The Chinese video-sharing app is again on the top of the news after some US senators accused it of allowing China-based employees to access US user data. TikTok initially denied the allegation. However, it finally confessed that some China-based employees could access US user data. The concerns over the matter even prompted Brendan Carr, the Federal Communication Commission’s senior Republican commissioner, to urge Google and Apple to remove TikTok from their app stores. The company CEO now wrote a direct letter to US senators to clarify the roadmap for addressing their concerns. Chew wrote that the company expects to “delete US users’ protected data from our own systems and fully pivot to Oracle cloud servers located in the US.”
TikTok CEO writes a letter to US senators to address their national security concerns
TikTok’s CEO says they’re trying to “remove any doubt about the security of US user data.” Chew also mentioned their collaboration with Oracle to store the US user’s data within the country. Both companies are working on “new, advanced data security controls.” “That work puts us closer to the day when we will be able to pivot toward a novel and industry-leading system for protecting the data of our users in the United States, with robust, independent oversight to ensure compliance,” Chew added. A BuzzFeed News report first sparked the controversy between US senators and TikTok. The report revealed the access of ByteDance China-based employees to the US users’ data. However, Chew denied much of BuzzFeed News’ reporting but acknowledged that some of their employees outside of the US have access to domestic data. He later said that the data is “subject to a series of robust cybersecurity controls and authorization approval protocols overseen by our US-based security team.” Chew mentioned TikTok’s internal data classification system and approval process. The system assigns levels of access based on the data’s classification. It also requires approval for accessing US user data.
