‘TikTok parent allowed Chinese CP ‘supreme access’ to US data’

The damning allegations surfaced as TikTok scrambles to avoid a total ban in the US. Lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle have called for the app to be blocked due to an array of concerns, including its impact on underage users and national security risks.

Yu also stated in the lawsuit that he was “struck by the misdirection” of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who repeatedly downplayed the company’s connections to the Chinese government during combative testimony on Capitol Hill in March.

Chew denied that the Chinese government could access US user data and touted the company’s efforts to assuage privacy concerns, including its move to store information stateside on servers maintained by Oracle. 

Yu, a California resident who was hired by ByteDance in 2017, further alleged that ByteDance engaged in “brazenly unlawful conduct,” including stealing video content from rival social platforms Instagram and Snapchat and using fake users to boost engagement metrics across its platforms, according to the complaint.

“These actions were taken without the permission of the content creators and represented an unlawful effort to gain an edge against entrenched online video hosting websites,” the lawsuit said.

The suit described ByteDance’s actions as a “worldwide scheme (including in California) to steal and profit from the copyrighted works of others.” 

ByteDance said Yu’s allegations were “baseless” and vowed to fight the lawsuit.

“Mr. Yu worked for ByteDance Inc. for less than a year and his employment ended in July 2018. During his brief time at the company, he worked on an app called Flipagram, which was discontinued years ago for business reasons,” a ByteDance spokesperson told The Post.

ByteDance also addressed the allegation of data scrapping, stating that it was “committed to respecting the intellectual property of other companies, and we acquire data in accordance with industry practices and our global policy.”