TikTok and ByteDance employees regularly engage in “heating,” a manual push that ensures specific videos “achieve a certain number of video views,” according to six sources and documents reviewed by Forbes.| Forbes
The internal risk assessment, completed in late 2021, also warned of rampant self-dealing, embezzlement, and potential indictment of executives.| Forbes
Roland Cloutier, a U.S. Air Force veteran and former law enforcement officer, stepped down as TikTok’s Global Chief Security Officer in July 2022 as the Biden administration continues to evaluate the national security risks posed by TikTok’s Chinese ownership.| Forbes
The project, assigned to a Beijing-led team, would have involved accessing location data from some U.S. users’ devices without their knowledge or consent.| Forbes
“I feel like with these tools, there’s some backdoor to access user data in almost all of them,” said an external auditor hired to help TikTok close off Chinese access to sensitive information, like Americans’ birthdays and phone numbers.| BuzzFeed News
In 2021, TikTok became the most visited website in the world. Since then, it has led trends in American culture and commerce, and played an increasing role in civic and political discourse around the world.| Forbes
TikTok is rebuilding its systems to keep US user data in the US and putting a new US-based team in control. But for now, that team reports to executives in China.| BuzzFeed News
