TikTok finally admitted that some users’ data is stored in China

This is a question that TikTok absolutely cannot avoid: What happens to the data of users residing outside of China? In Europe the answer is more or less known. TikTok itself says, your personal data is indeed being sent to China. But the situation for the United States could not be more complicated than this. Indeed, given the superpower’s growing distrust of its major rival, the platform has every interest in verifying that American users’ data is stored domestically as well as in Singapore.

Despite everything, TikTok maintains a certain uncertainty around the subject. Last March, CEO Shou Zi Chew admitted at a hearing at the Capitol Building that some data is still being sent to China. Now we know a little more. At the end of May, Forbes published a survey revealing that the creators of the platform, who were paid for their videos, did indeed see their personal data being sent to the Middle Kingdom.

TikTok admits to lying to the US about storing personal data

After this investigation, several US senators contacted TikTok to clarify this issue. In a response letter, the firm finally provides some (fine) details. Indeed, TikTok marks a difference between the data of occasional users of the app and the data of its creators, who are paid by the partner program. If the former’s data is indeed stored in the United States and Singapore, this is not the case for the latter’s data sent to China.

“We were asked about the protected user data collected in the app, and our statement focused on that data, not the creator data.”In his TikTok letter, he justifies it by stating that, according to its terms, this does not invalidate its previous statements before Congress. Data subject to an exception for the platform include: “publicly available data, commercial measures, interoperability data and certain creator data”, explains the latter.

Still, TikTok assures that the Chinese government does not have access to this data and that will never happen. “TikTok’s response makes it clear that, despite the claims of TikTok’s misleading public relations campaign, Americans’ data is still open to Beijing’s brutal and pervasive spy regimes.” respond to the senators.

Source : forbes