On December 22, 2022, four employees of Byte Dance, a Chinese parent company of TikTok were fired because they inappropriately obtained the data of two American journalists- Emily Baker and Cristina Criddle. Both journalists are involved with two prominent newspaper agencies. Baker is currently working at Forbes and Criddle writes for Financial Times.
According to an email from Byte Dance General Counsel Erich Andersen, the main motive behind this act was to leak important information related to the company and find potential connections between the two journalists and company employees.
As per the New York Times, the main tactic used for this covert espionage was conducted by accessing the Internet Protocol (IP) Addresses and other sensitive data of the two reporters. Additionally, they were trying to determine if those individuals have any connection or proximity with the employees of Byte Dance.
The United States Administration under Donald Trump and the incumbent Biden government along with numerous lawmakers of the country had forewarned the masses for two years that these organisations and apps pose a significant risk to the security and privacy of people. But this fell on deaf ears and people ignored their warnings.
Taking a cue from the US, more than a dozen states have banned TikTok from government-issued devices and the company is now undergoing several negotiations with the administration on security and privacy measures.
According to the Voice of America (VOA), an eminent media organisation in the US, the island nation of Taiwan is involved in an investigation of a Chinese Twin of TikTok called Douyin International as it has illegally expanded its social media business in the country.
On December 19, 2022, the Mainland Affairs Council of the Executive Yuan confirmed in a local media report the allegations made by a political affairs member of the Executive Yuan that the Mainland Affairs Council took note of the Chinese company Byte Dance’s opening of a branch in Taiwan and further accused it of business expansion and transferring cases involving related operators to criminal offences to the judicial authorities for investigation.
The Byte Dance has its headquarters in the “Forbidden City” of Beijing. It is suspected of operating and running a subsidiary in contravention of the law that strictly restricts numerous Chinese companies (including social media ones) from operating offices in Taiwan.
