ByteDance Says TikTok App is Run And Controlled in US, Not China
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Chinese developer ByteDance’s appeal against the U.S. ban on its TikTok social network is currently underway, and the company says the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) made several errors in presenting its case, which was intended to require the app to be sold to an American company.
The DoJ claims the app’s feed can be manipulated by the Chinese government, making it a propaganda tool. However, ByteDance claims that TikTok recommendations are actually created in the U.S.
Earlier this year, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to force ByteDance to sell the app to an American-owned company or face a ban on the app in the United States. TikTok then filed suit against the U.S. government, arguing that the ban would be unconstitutional, violating the First Amendment right to free speech. The case has been fast-tracked and is in the process of being heard.
The DoJ made two main accusations against ByteDance.
The first accusation claims the TikTok algorithm for user feeds could allow the short video app to be controlled by the Chinese to feed propaganda to U.S. users, allowing the Chinese to paint China in a good light, or throw shadow on the United States and its government.
The DoJ’s second accusation says the Chinese government could get access to the personal data of U.S. TikTok users, including users’ views on controversial issues, such as gun control, abortion, or politics.
ByteDance has of course disputed the Department of Justice’s claims, and has mostly relied on a First Amendment defense, saying the U.S. government is interfering with the right to free speech.
However, in its appeal, the Chinese developer has focused on disputing the DoJ’s claims. The developer says that the app’s content recommendation engine and user data are stored in the U.S., on cloud servers operated by Oracle. In addition, ByteDance says that all content moderation decisions for U.S. users are made in the United States.
Arguments are being heard in court today.
While the U.S. Department of Justice is in a legal battle to ban TikTok, we might not be able to expect to see either presidential candidate argue for a ban on TikTok, as both are using TikTok to get their message out to voters.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has publicly said he would never support a TikTok ban and has been posting on the video-based social network since June of this year. Meanwhile, the Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, has been using TikTok since July, as part of her campaign strategy has been to lean in heavily toward social media as a promotional vehicle.
In April, when the House of Representatives passed the bill to force ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American-owned company or face a ban. Soon after, it was revealed that ByteDance would sooner shut down TikTok than sell it and its algorithms to an American buyer.
ByteDance considers TikTok’s algorithms to be trade secrets that are core to its more significant businesses. As TikTok accounts for only a small bit of ByteDance’s overall revenue, the company would only take a small financial hit if it shut down TikTok in the U.S., while protecting its intellectual property.
