TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance spends record amount on federal lobbying as US pressure rises

Beijing-based ByteDance spent US$500,000 on federal lobbying in the three months ended June 30, up from its previous record of US$300,000 in the first quarter

TikTok is responding to an onslaught of pressure from US politicians over its Chinese roots

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Short video app TikTok is facing an onslaught of pressure from US politicians over its Chinese roots. Photo: Agence France-Presse

Published: 10:15am, 21 Jul 2020Updated: 12:43pm, 22 Jul 2020

The Chinese owner of the popular TikTok video app spent a company record on federal lobbying in the second quarter as it fought allegations that it is funnelling Americans’ data to Beijing, according to lobbying disclosures filed with US Congress.

Beijing-based ByteDance spent US$500,000 in the three months ended June 30, up from its previous record of US$300,000 in the first quarter, according to the company’s lobbying disclosure Monday.

TikTok is responding to an onslaught of pressure from US politicians over its Chinese roots – tension that has escalated in third quarter, including calls by President Donald Trump to consider banning the app entirely and proposed legislation to disallow downloads on government-issued mobile devices.

TikTok also faces a national security investigation into the 2017 purchase of Musical.ly, a lip-synching app it later merged with TikTok, as well as a parallel probe by the administration, which could culminate within weeks, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters last week.

The company has also attracted inquiries by the US Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department over its data-collection practices, according to a consumer advocate who said he spoke to the enforcers about the company.

ByteDance, which was founded in China and is incorporated in the Cayman Islands, has repeatedly denied accusations that TikTok harvests data for the Chinese government and says it stores Americans’ data in the US and Singapore, not in China.

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