In a recent statement, TikTok Chief Executive Kevin Mayer plans to set the record straight on the allegation that employees of the Chinese-owned video app had been conducting surveillance on journalists. According to Mayer, employees of ByteDance, the Chinese tech company that owns TikTok, acted contrary to company policies when ByteDance employed investigative firms in order to monitor certain journalists, who have written critical reports on the company.
Mayer claims further that ByteDance did not intend to “spy” on the journalists, but that they had “engaged investigations firms to ensure good governance” within the company and to ensure “appropriate management of data privacy and security risks”. He further elaborated that their intent was to use the findings of the investigation to “address any potential risks”.
This comes after reports of ByteDance employees reportedly going to extreme lengths to surveil journalists, such as engaging outside investigative firms, seeking out private photos of the journalists and even requesting screenshots of their phones.
Mayer further acknowledged that ByteDance’s actions had “fallen short of the high standards” set by the company and that ByteDance had made a mistake in its handling of the situation. He said that “it is clear in hindsight that the investigation tactics employed by the investigative firms engaged by ByteDance were overzealous, intrusive, and inconsistent with company policies”.
In a move to address the concerns, Mayer said that ByteDance had established a new “ethics and compliance department” to ensure that the company “adheres to the highest standards of corporate governance and ethics”. The department will also be responsible for developing and monitoring ethics policies, reporting any “questionable incidents of investigations”, as well as conducting internal audits to ensure compliance.
Mayer also stated that in light of the incident, ByteDance had “put additional structure and oversight in place for the process for engaging investigative firms and the parameters for their activities”. This indicates that the company does not intend to ever employ such tactics in the future.
This news is encouraging for those concerned about privacy and corporate accountability. It is clear that ByteDance takes the issue seriously and is committed to making sure that such violations will not happen again in the future.
