ByteDance-owned TikTok denies censorship of users’ content amid call for US review of app over security concerns
- TikTok, which has a version for mainland China called Douyin, said it adheres to US laws, and that all its US data are stored in the country
TikTok, the popular short video-sharing app owned by ByteDance, denies being influenced by Beijing to censor content posted by its users, as US Senator Marco Rubio called on Washington to investigate its operations over national security concerns.
Rubio, the Republican lawmaker from Florida, requested the US Treasury Department in a letter on Wednesday to investigate ByteDance’s 2017 acquisition of social media start-up Musical.ly, whose operations in Shanghai and San Monica, California, were later merged with TikTok in 2018.
“These Chinese-owned apps are increasingly being used to censor content and silence open discussion on topics deemed sensitive by the Chinese Government and Communist Party,” Rubio wrote in the letter. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin chairs the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an inter-agency panel that reviews the national security implications of foreign mergers, acquisitions and takeovers of any US business.
TikTok, which has a version for mainland China called Douyin, said it adheres to US laws, and that all its US data are stored in the country. “Our content and moderation policies are led by our US-based team and are not influenced by any foreign government,” a TikTok spokeswoman said on Thursday. “The Chinese government does not request that TikTok censor content, and would not have jurisdiction regardless, as TikTok does not operate there.”
The spokeswoman added that TikTok also consults “with a number of third-party advisers, and [is] looking into the formation of a committee of leading industry organisations and experts to help us further refine and regularly assess our policies and implementation, and increase transparency”.