Over the past few years, TikTok has been under a slew of controversies surrounding its data privacy practices, which has led to several states banning the app and calls for a nationwide ban. However, it looks like the company’s troubles continue as Yintao Yu, a former executive of TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, has filed a lawsuit claiming that the platform artificially inflated its engagement with bots and stolen content.
According to the lawsuit, when Yu first joined the company back in 2017, he discovered that ByteDance engaged in a “worldwide scheme” to profit from copyrighted work of other platforms, including Instagram and Snapchat and fabricated users to boost engagement metrics that potential investors relied upon.
Propaganda tool for the CCP?
Yu claims that ByteDance was also acting as a propaganda tool for the Chinese Communist Party and that Chinese employees had access to US user data. Additionally, the complaint describes “a special unit of Chinese Communist Party members” in the company’s Beijing office, which monitored ByteDance’s promotion of communist values. Furthermore, Yu alleges that ByteDance manipulated Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, to suppress content related to the Hong Kong protests and spread content that expressed hatred towards Japan.
Although the lawsuit refers to the company’s practices years ago, since Yu was terminated from ByteDance in 2018 after he raised his concerns, it could still mount troubles for TikTok as the FBI is already investigating the company for allegedly spying on US journalists and lawmakers are calling for a nationwide ban.
TikTok’s response
In response to the allegations, a spokesperson for ByteDance stated that they plan to “vigorously oppose what we believe are baseless claims and allegations in this complaint.” The spokesperson further asserted that ByteDance respects the intellectual property of other companies and obtains data according to industry practices and global policy.