Report: TikTok wants more transparency with restructuring to allay data security concerns
WASHINGTON —
As more and more states in the United States announce the ban on the use of Douyin international TikTok software on state government equipment, the company is trying to ease concerns about its data security by reorganizing to increase transparency and avoid TikTok being attacked in the United States. The fate of total prohibition. Relevant experts believe that storing data on the servers of American companies or setting up new subsidiaries in the United States does not necessarily dispel people's doubts.
TikTok has been negotiating for the past two years with the U.S. regulator, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), whether the company can continue to operate in the United States.
"The Wall Street Journal" on Monday (January 16), citing people familiar with the matter, said that in recent communications with U.S. lawmakers and civil organizations, TikTok disclosed a $1.5 billion plan to restructure the company's U.S. operations. Details of complex plans. Previously it was largely silent on the plans.
The talks with U.S. officials and members of Congress have gained urgency as federal and state governments have moved in recent months to ban the software on government equipment.
Following President Biden's signing in December of a bill banning federal employees from using TikTok on government devices, at least 27 states have adopted similar bans. Wisconsin and North Carolina are the latest states to impose restrictions on the popular video app. Congress is also considering a bill that would ban the software in the United States.
It is at this juncture that TikTok disclosed its restructuring plan, hoping to dispel some concerns by increasing transparency.
TikTok hopes details of its restructuring plan — and pledges to ensure oversight of its content recommendation algorithm — will convince potential allies in Washington that it can stand independently from its China-based parent, ByteDance, the report said. Ltd.) to operate.
The Wall Street Journal quoted a TikTok spokeswoman as saying the company believes the restructuring plan, which includes layers of government and independent oversight, addresses concerns about content recommendations and user data security.
"We are not waiting for a deal to be reached," the spokeswoman said. "Over the past year, we have made substantial progress implementing the solution and look forward to completing the work to address these concerns."
Two-thirds of U.S. teens use the popular short-video sharing platform . Although TikTok has insisted that it will not provide user data to the Chinese government, the United States has been concerned that Beijing will use legal and regulatory powers to obtain data on American users or try to promote pro-China narratives
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Monday, January 23, 2023 at 16:41 China time
U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS
Report: TikTok wants more transparency with restructuring to allay data security concerns
January 17, 2023 at 07:19
Lia
FILE PHOTO: The logo for the TikTok app. (Reuters)
FILE PHOTO: The logo for the TikTok app. (Reuters)
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WASHINGTON —
As more and more states in the United States announce the ban on the use of Douyin international TikTok software on state government equipment, the company is trying to ease concerns about its data security by reorganizing to increase transparency and avoid TikTok being attacked in the United States. The fate of total prohibition. Relevant experts believe that storing data on the servers of American companies or setting up new subsidiaries in the United States does not necessarily dispel people's doubts.
TikTok has been negotiating for the past two years with the U.S. regulator, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), whether the company can continue to operate in the United States.
"The Wall Street Journal" on Monday (January 16), citing people familiar with the matter, said that in recent communications with U.S. lawmakers and civil organizations, TikTok disclosed a $1.5 billion plan to restructure the company's U.S. operations. Details of complex plans. Previously it was largely silent on the plans.
The talks with U.S. officials and members of Congress have gained urgency as federal and state governments have moved in recent months to ban the software on government equipment.
Following President Biden's signing in December of a bill banning federal employees from using TikTok on government devices, at least 27 states have adopted similar bans. Wisconsin and North Carolina are the latest states to impose restrictions on the popular video app. Congress is also considering a bill that would ban the software in the United States.
It is at this juncture that TikTok disclosed its restructuring plan, hoping to dispel some concerns by increasing transparency.
TikTok hopes details of its restructuring plan — and pledges to ensure oversight of its content recommendation algorithm — will convince potential allies in Washington that it can stand independently from its China-based parent, ByteDance, the report said. Ltd.) to operate.
The Wall Street Journal quoted a TikTok spokeswoman as saying the company believes the restructuring plan, which includes layers of government and independent oversight, addresses concerns about content recommendations and user data security.
"We are not waiting for a deal to be reached," the spokeswoman said. "Over the past year, we have made substantial progress implementing the solution and look forward to completing the work to address these concerns."
Two-thirds of U.S. teens use the popular short-video sharing platform . Although TikTok has insisted that it will not provide user data to the Chinese government, the United States has been concerned that Beijing will use legal and regulatory powers to obtain data on American users or try to promote pro-China narratives or disinformation.
Since the summer of 2022, TikTok has stored US user data on cloud servers of the US company Oracle.
According to people familiar with the matter, according to TikTok's restructuring plan, all its systems related to content services are stored in Oracle. Both Oracle and third-party detectors can see the code that runs these systems and can audit code related to how TikTok chooses to serve videos to users and how the platform identifies videos for removal to detect whether it has been manipulated, or Whether the Chinese government or other foreign actors have gained access. Provisions in the proposal state that if the U.S. government or third-party monitors find anything of concern to them, there will be a process for reporting the issue to TikTok and, if necessary, ultimately to the U.S. government.
In order to solve the problem of user data security, TikTok will create a new wholly-owned subsidiary called TikTok US Data Security (TikTok US Data Security). This department will be responsible for maintaining TikTok and report to an external board of directors, which exercises primary fiduciary responsibility to CFIUS, not ByteDance.
All employees employed by the 2,500-employee unit will comply with a series of U.S. government requirements and comply with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, which effectively prohibit Chinese nationals from working for the newly formed company, the report said.
TikTok has spent about $1.5 billion building Oracle data centers, moving code and hiring and paying third-party monitors, the people said. If a deal is reached, TikTok is expected to cost $700 million to $1 billion a year going forward, they said.
Supporters of TikTok's proposed restructuring plan argue that the measures would make it impossible for the Chinese government to interfere with TikTok's operations in the United States.
But some China skeptics say they won't trust any deal with TikTok as long as ByteDance owns it.
Some experts also believe that in view of China's "National Intelligence Law" and other relevant regulations, it is difficult for TikTok to cooperate with American companies or establish subsidiaries in the United States to convince the US government that it can ensure that the data of American users is safe.
Du Yijin, founder of Taiwan AI Lab, said in an interview with Voice of America a few days ago: "We have done data development and corporate governance and know that if you don't exist as two company entities today, and you have completely different people, it will If you have an independent research and development team in the United States, it is basicallyWhen your parent company is in Beijing, you don’t need or you can completely It's not easy to stay on the sidelines," he said.
Du Yijin also believes that TikTok's cooperation with Oracle to store data on its cloud server cannot dispel people's doubts.
"I don't think the existence of Oracle does not mean that you have no way to get in touch from abroad. This does not seem to be a guarantee," he said.
The expert also mentioned that what is quite detrimental to TikTok is that it has a bad precedent in protecting user data security.
Last December, TikTok admitted that ByteDance employees in Beijing "improperly" accessed the TikTok user data of two American journalists.
For national security reasons, then-President Trump issued an executive order in 2020 banning TikTok from operating in the United States. But the social platform filed a lawsuit to block the implementation of the executive order. Last year, President Biden rescinded Trump's directive and asked the U.S. Treasury Department to review security issues related to the app.
FBI Director Christopher Wray told a congressional hearing on November 15 last year that the bureau had "national security concerns" about TikTok, including that "the Chinese government could use it to control millions of people." User Data Collection".
Under Chinese law, "Chinese companies are basically required to do what the Chinese government wants them to do, or to share information, or to act as a tool of the Chinese government. So, that in itself is reason enough to be concerned," he said.
Reuters Recently, it was reported that TikTok has suspended the recruitment of security consultants in the United States because of the growing voice in the US political circles against the appointment of US officials as TikTok security consultants. difficult to decouple from China’s national regulations.” or disinformation.
