DOJ digs into Tiktok owner, spy allegations

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is investigating the surveillance of U.S. citizens, including several journalists who cover the tech industry, by the Chinese company that owns Tiktok, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The investigation, which began late last year, appears to be tied to the admission in December by the company, Bytedance, that its employees had inappropriately obtained the data of American Tiktok users, including that of two reporters and a few of their associates.

The department’s criminal division, the FBI and the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia are investigating Bytedance, which is based in Beijing and has close ties with China’s government, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

A DOJ spokesperson had no comment. Confirmation of the investigation comes as the White House hardens its stance toward forcing the company to address national security concerns about Tiktok. They include fears that China might be using the video service to gather data about or spy on Americans, undermine democratic institutions and foster internet addictions among young people.

Tiktok disclosed this week that the Biden administration had asked its owner to sell the app — which is already being blocked from government phones in the U.S., Europe and more than two dozen states — or face a possible nationwide ban.

The federal criminal inquiry was reported earlier by Forbes magazine. The journalist who wrote the story said she was one of the people whose data had been tracked by the company.

The Bytedance employees implicated in the surveillance, who were later fired, were trying to find the sources of suspected leaks of internal conversations and business documents to journalists.