There were also side rooms where journalists could view some individual lines of TikTok source code on screens, which did not prove illuminating. A company official gave a presentation in front of four screens framed with neon lights detailing the company's new privacy and data protections measures. Large, flashy screens showed the viral videos that have made TikTok a must-have app for 100 million Americans. On Tuesday, TikTok officials led journalists through its Transparency and Accountability Center, which felt something like an interactive public relations museum. TikTok's "transparency and accountability center" underwhelms Many details about Project Texas have trickled out in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and Reuters, but Tuesday's gathering marked one of the first times the company has given an official briefing on the plan. data even though the company had strongly denied that would ever happen.Ī TikTok official said under its new server reorganization as part of Project Texas, China-based employees would never have this kind of access to American accounts.
When TikTok revealed in December that two former employees working in China improperly had accessed the user data of American journalists to investigate a suspected leak, critics pointed out that Chinese employees were poking around in U.S. "But there would be some questions about who has access to the data on the backend," he said. On top of that, selling TikTok could constitute a violation of China's export control laws, said Segal from the Council on Foreign Relations.Īssuming the deal passes muster, though, Segal agreed that it resolves the bulk of the data security concerns by allowing inspections of its algorithm and transferring U.S. Then there are the legal challenges that a forced divestiture would likely trigger. TikTok is likely worth tens of billions of dollars. Not reaching a deal would put TikTok in limbo and raise the possibility that ByteDance would completely spin it off, perhaps even selling it to an American tech firm.Ī sale would face significant challenges, starting with a steep price tag that few tech firms could afford. TikTok has become so emotional, however, that a reasonable solution may not be enough." "The Oracle plan would work," Lewis said. officials have, said Jim Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, but that is no guarantee it will be approved. The plan addresses many of the major security concerns U.S. Still, aggregate data, like what kind of content is trending on the app or in what regions certain kind of videos are popular, can be analyzed by corporate employees in Beijing who would need to be granted special permission from the U.S. One of its tasks will be ensuring China-based ByteDance employees cannot view the individual data of Americans, according to TikTok officials. None of those hired would be Chinese nationals. government, TikTok officials said on Tuesday. USDS is expected to hire 2,500 people who have undergone high-level background checks similar to those used by the U.S. Under the plan, it would conduct regular audits of TikTok. That committee, led by the Treasury Department, has been locked in talks with TikTok for more than two years. It will control access to Americans' data on the app and report to an independent board of directors that will act as a liaison between TikTok and national security officials with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The company said it will also form a subsidiary called TikTok U.S. It comes two years after TikTok started talks with national security officials in the hopes of reaching a deal that would safeguard Americans' data from being accessed by employees at its Beijing-based parent company and fend off any possible data collection requests from the Chinese government.īut those talks have dragged on, and TikTok officials are growing impatient, as the company's public image continues to be clouded by controversy. The company recently launched a full-fledged charm offensive that has included rapid-fire meetings in Washington with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, new transparency tools on the app and a first-ever tour to members of the media of its corporate campus in the Los Angeles area. A TikTok official gives a tour of the company's Transparency and Accountability Centers in the Los Angeles area.Īs infighting continues in the Biden administration over the future of TikTok, the video streaming giant is marshaling its resources toward one goal: convincing the public it is a safe platform.
0 kommentar(er)
