TikTok users in the US may have data that’s readily accessed by Chinese staff.
A Buzzfeed report revealed audio leaks from 80-plus internal meetings, with 14 statements showing that Chinese app engineers had access to the data between September 2021 through January 2022.
These allegations have surfaced despite testimony from a TikTok executive that says they’ve employed a US-based security team to control the flow of data.
In some of the recordings, US employees spoke with their Chinese counterparts and did not know how to access the data or were not given permission. Others state that there’s a China-based engineer who could ‘see everything’ and references about a ‘Master Admin’.
Maureen Shanahan, Tiktok’s spokesperson mentioned that the app and company is among the most scrutinized in terms of security, but they have hired experts and continue to validate security standards, as well as bring in independent third party companies to ‘test’ the company’s defenses.
