According to court documents filed last week and Washington federal appeals court, the Department of Justice is accusing the Chinese social media app TikTok of spying on American’s views on controversial issues such as abortion and gun control. TikTok is using an internal web suite called Lark to transmit the findings on the issues back to TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, located in Beijing, China.
ByteDance has been accused of having deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by multiple government officials and watchdog groups. Some of these ties include a 2019 agreement between ByteDance and the CCP to spread Chinese propaganda through its products. In 2018 the company entered into an agreement with the Chinese military to establish an AI academy with the stated goal of helping the Chinese military.
The Chinese government also worked with TikTok to monitor protests in Hong Kong against the crackdown on freedoms within the semi-autonomous region. It was also used to geolocate protestors. The monitoring didn’t stop at the border of China. In 2022, TikTok admitted to using geolocation to track American Journalists. TikTok also had a dashboard to monitor and track users who viewed LGBT material. After backlash, the company claimed to shut down the monitoring of the LGBT community.
The government is worried that the app, with 170 million American users, could use this information to artificially manipulate the backend algorithms to sway American opinions to the will of the CCP. We have seen something similar with the virality of Osama Bin Laden’s “Letter to America” that went viral on TikTok. The letter was released by Al-Qaeda shortly after the 9-11 attacks but was dismissed as propaganda by most at the time. Recently, the letter has popped up on multiple TikTok videos posted by American members of Gen Z sympathizing and agreeing with Bin Laden’s reasoning for killing over 3000 Americans. Although the video did pop up on other social media sites, almost all were reposted from TikTok, where the videos were more widely accepted than on different platforms.
“By directing ByteDance or TikTok to covertly manipulate that algorithm, China could for example further its existing malign influence operations and amplify its efforts to undermine trust in our democracy and exacerbate social divisions,” the brief states.
TikTok admits to using a technique called “heating” with specific content. That process is the manipulation of the algorithm to push particular videos. Most social media companies use similar techniques to push partners and for advertising. Because of ByteDance’s connection with the CCP, many people worry that TikTok might use the method to push Chinese propaganda or push for policies in DC that are favorable to the Chinese government.
TikTok has launched a program to move its servers to the US to alleviate concerns, but many see this as only gaslighting because it matters less as to where the servers are located and more to who controls the servers. There is evidence like the usage of Lark that shows ByteDance in China is still calling the shots for the company, and the data, even though stored on servers in Texas, is still being transmitted back to China for use by ByteDance and its CCP partners.
The federal government has moved to ban the app if ByteDance continues to own it, but TikTok has sued to block the ban, accusing the federal government of violating its First Amendment protections. It highlights the anti-Israel lean of the videos on the app dealing with the Israel-Hamas war as a reason for the government trying to ban it, although the calls for the ban are far older than the conflict in the Middle East.
The federal government claims it is not trying to stifle free speech; it claims to want to ban the app because China is weaponizing the platform against American interests, and that is leading to national security concerns. The DOJ also argues that since ByteDance is headquartered in China and not the US, it is not afforded First Amendment protections for freedom of speech.
AmmoLand News contacted someone with 25 years of experience, including working at social media giants and multiple government intelligence agencies, to review the information TikTok collects from its users through its app. Our source states that even though other Social Media platforms collect and use information for things like targeted advertisements, TikTok takes it to another level, including tracking users when the user uses and when they do not use the app, as well as excessive monitoring permissions it requires to install on a device. He believes it is closer to spyware than a social media app. The only app that comes close to TikTok privacy violations is Temu, another Chinese app.
Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for September.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. Mr. Crump has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
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