The US Department of Justice on Friday (July 26) accused TikTok of collecting a large amount of sensitive information from American users, including their views on social issues such as gun control, abortion, and religion.
This is the most compelling evidence presented by the US government so far that TikTok poses a threat to national security.
Government lawyers wrote in documents submitted to the Washington Federal Appeals Court on Friday evening that TikTok collects data on American users’ views on sensitive topics and reviews the content under the direction of its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.
Multiple media outlets cited documents submitted by the Department of Justice, reporting that TikTok and ByteDance use an internal communication system called Lark, through which TikTok employees directly send a large amount of restricted data on American users to engineers at ByteDance in China.
The Department of Justice stated that this information is ultimately stored on servers in China, which can be accessed by ByteDance employees in China.
The documents mentioned that a search tool within Lark allows ByteDance and TikTok employees in the US and China to collect information about American user content or expressions, including views on sensitive topics such as abortion or religion.
“American data collection behavior by TikTok is not protected,” said a senior official from the Department of Justice while explaining these documents, many of which are classified.
The Department of Justice also mentioned that TikTok has a history of reviewing content and manipulating its algorithm under the direction of ByteDance.
“According to TikTok’s own admission, TikTok US is simply a channel, with content moderation decisions being made by the China entity,” a Department of Justice official said.
TikTok previously stated that the algorithm for its US application is stored by US partner Oracle, trained based on US user data, and overseen by employees from that department. TikTok claimed to have invested $1.5 billion in this initiative.
The Department of Justice argued that TikTok’s proposal to store American user data on US servers is not enough to protect the data, partly because TikTok employees rely on software developed by ByteDance to share information and sometimes even send a large amount of restricted US user information to Chinese colleagues through that software.
The new court documents represent a significant defense presented by the US government in this major legal battle over the future of TikTok. Over 170 million Americans use TikTok.
According to a law signed by President Biden in April, TikTok will be banned in the US if it fails to sever ties with ByteDance.
This measure was passed with bipartisan support, as lawmakers and government officials are concerned that the Chinese authorities may force ByteDance to hand over American user data or manipulate algorithms to guide American public opinion towards a pro-Beijing direction.
The Department of Justice stated in the court documents, “The algorithm can be manipulated manually, and as it is located within China, it would allow the Chinese government to covertly control the algorithm – thereby secretly shaping the content received by American users.”
“By instructing ByteDance or TikTok to covertly manipulate the algorithm, China could further advance its existing malicious influence operations, undermining our trust in democracy and exacerbating social divides,” the documents added.
The Department of Justice expressed that these concerns are not just theoretical. They accused TikTok and ByteDance employees of engaging in “boosting” video views.
“Boosting” refers to promoting certain videos to gain a specific number of views. This practice allows TikTok to manipulate popular content and broaden its dissemination, but US officials believe it could also be utilized for malicious purposes by Beijing.
In a summary of the court documents, the Department of Justice also mentioned another tool by TikTok where specific words trigger content suppression. Some policies of this tool apply to users within China where ByteDance operates.
Department of Justice officials stated that other TikTok policies may also apply to TikTok users outside of China. They said TikTok is investigating the use of these policies and whether they were applied to American users around 2022.
US intelligence agencies are concerned that the Chinese Communist Party may “weaponize” these mobile applications.
“It is obvious that the Chinese (CCP) government has been acquiring large sets of structured data of Americans through various means over the years, including malicious network activities; purchasing such data from data brokers and others, and building sophisticated artificial intelligence models that can leverage this data,” said a senior Department of Justice official.
According to the Department of Justice documents, “The national security threat posed by TikTok is real, as confirmed by public records and confidential information provided by the intelligence community.”
In May, TikTok filed a federal lawsuit against the US government, claiming that the law infringed on Americans’ freedom of speech.
TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek responded to the Department of Justice’s documents in a statement, saying, “The TikTok ban will suppress the voices of 170 million Americans, violating the First Amendment.”
“We remain confident in winning in court,” he said.
In this legal challenge, one of TikTok’s main arguments is that the new potential ban violates the First Amendment because it prohibits the app from continuing to express points of view unless it attracts new owners through a complex divestment process.
The Department of Justice responded that TikTok failed to present any valid freedom of speech arguments and argued that the newly passed US law is aimed at addressing national security issues, not targeting protected speech, and claimed that China and ByteDance as foreign entities are not protected by the First Amendment.
TikTok also argued that the newly passed law exhibits viewpoint discrimination.
Department of Justice officials objected to this argument, stating that the law reflects ongoing concerns by the US government that Beijing may weaponize technology to threaten US national security.
They mentioned that Beijing mandates all Chinese companies to transfer sensitive data to the government, further escalating these concerns. Operating under the current structure, TikTok must respond to these demands.
The oral arguments for this case are scheduled for September. This lawsuit is likely to be appealed to the US Supreme Court.
(This article referenced reports from the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, and Agence France-Presse)