TikTok parent planned to use app to monitor American citizens’ location, Forbes claims

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TikTok data privacy monitoring overview: 

• Who: Forbes says it has reviewed materials that allegedly show TikTok parent company ByteDance planned to use its Internal Audit and Risk Control department to discreetly collect the physical locations of specific users from the U.S. 
• Why: Forbes says ByteDance wanted to obtain the physical locations of specific users from the U.S. in order to allegedly surveil them. 
• Where: TikTok is based in China. 

TikTok parent company ByteDance planned to use the video-sharing platform to track specific U.S. users’ location data, according to Forbes.

China-based ByteDance was allegedly planning to use its Internal Audit and Risk Control department at TikTok to access location data from the devices of certain U.S. users without their knowledge or consent.

The Internal Audit and Risk Control department was originally put in place to investigate any potential misconduct that may be committed by current and former ByteDance employees, reports Forbes. 

The department, however, has, on at least two occasions, allegedly planned to collect location data from TikTok on certain U.S. users who have no current or prior employee relationship with ByteDance. 

Unclear whether ByteDance was able to collect physical location of U.S. users

It is unclear whether ByteDance was actually able to collect the location data of any of its U.S. users, according to Forbes, which reports that materials did show that the plan to obtain it was indeed there. 

TikTok has said that it collects approximate location information from the IP addresses of its users in order to help the company present its users with relevant advertisements and content, and to help detect and prevent fraud, reports Forbes. 

The materials reviewed by Forbes, however, reportedly showed that ByteDance was planning to collect the location data of certain U.S. users in order to surveil them, not to send them relevant advertising or content. 

Forbes says that, in order to protect its sources, it is choosing not to disclose what TikTok planned to accomplish with the alleged surveillance.

TikTok agreed to pay $92 million earlier this year in order to resolve claims it misused the biometric information of its users. 

Have you used TikTok? What do you think of the TikTok data privacy report? Let us know in the comments! 

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