Now TikTok faces US spying probe

TIKTOK is being investigated by the US Department of Justice over possible spying on Americans including journalists, it was reported last night.

The investigation is focusing on the admission by the app’s Chinese owner ByteDance that its staff accessed the data of US users.

These are said to include journalists at major American media outlets who reported on TikTok, which was looking for the source of leaks.

It comes amid hardening attitudes towards TikTok in the US and the UK, where the Government this week banned the app on official devices amid fears of spying – a ruling already in place in the US. The Biden administration this week demanded that ByteDance divest from TikTok or face a nationwide ban.

Prosecutors have subpoenaed information from ByteDance on its accessing of journalists’ locations or other private data, Forbes and The New York Times reported. The FBI has already conducted interviews about the surveillance.

Last December ByteDance admitted employees had inappropriately obtained the data of two American reporters to try and find the sources of leaks to journalists.

It comes ahead of TikTok’s chief executive, Shou Zi Chew, testifying before Congress next week where he is likely to face fierce questioning about its links to China and harmful content shown to children.

Last Wednesday FBI director Christopher Wray said that TikTok is a ‘tool that is ultimately within the control of the Chinese government and it, to me, screams out with national security concerns’.

ByteDance spokesman Jennifer Banks said: ‘We have strongly condemned the actions of the individuals found to have been involved, and they are no longer employed at ByteDance.

‘Our internal investigation is still ongoing, and we will cooperate with any official investigations when brought to us.’

Last night TikTok did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the FBI and prosecutors in Virginia.