TikTok, owned by ByteDance, has recently come under scrutiny over reports that its Chinese employees have access to US data. While ByteDance sought to address these concerns, the situation was made worse when the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wrote to Apple and Google asking them to remove TikTok from their stores because it could leak sensitive user data to Beijing.

Nine US senators even wrote to TikTok asking a few questions about user data and who has access to it. Now, Reuters reports have tried to respond to the concerns of TikTok lawmakers. ByteDance sent the letter on Thursday, announcing that it is working with the US government to protect the data privacy and security of its customers in the country.

With all that said, Chinese employees “can access data from US TikTok users subject to a set of robust cybersecurity controls and authorization approval protocols overseen by our US security team.” It also announced plans to remove sensitive US data from its databases and migrate to Oracle’s cloud servers located in the US. Disney, Netflix, Comcast have pledged to cover shipping costs for abortions.

It also announced that it is working with Oracle on “new, advanced data security controls” that should be completed in the near future. The letter states that “ByteDance has developed algorithms for both Douyin and TikTok, and therefore some key technological building blocks are used by both products.” For those who don’t know, TikTok is known as Douyin, which exists as a separate entity in China.

The code provides the core features of the application such as data storage and user profile management. However, the letter assures that TikTok’s business logic, algorithm, and integration are separate from Douyin.

The letter also sought to address another concern. In 2021, the Chinese government bought a stake and a seat on the board of Beijing ByteDance Technology. TikTok tried to justify this by saying that in order to have a news license in the country, the government had to buy 1% of the shares. It’s unclear how the senators will officially react, but ByteDance is clearly in a tough spot. We will keep you informed as the situation develops. Source