What TikTok seeks to reassure U.S. lawmakers on data security

.Chinese-owned social media site TikTok told U.S. senators it was working on a final agreement with the Biden Administration that would “fully safeguard user data and U.S. national security interests,” according to a TikTok letter seen Friday by Reuters.

The letter dated Thursday came in response to questions raised in a June 27 letter by a few senators including Republicans Marsha Blackburn and Ted Cruz, TikTok said.

TikTok, owned by Chinese technology conglomerate ByteDance, is one of the world’s most popular social media apps, with more than 1 billion active users globally. It counts the United States as its largest market.

TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew told senators in the letter the short video app was working with Oracle Corp on “new advanced data security controls that we hope to finalize in the near future.”

SPECIAL JULY 4 PRICING - Only for our international readers, a special price this weekend Click here HomeTechnologyTechTikTok seeks to reassure U.S. lawmakers on data security TikTok seeks to reassure U.S. lawmakers on data security TikTok, owned by Chinese technology conglomerate ByteDance, is one of the world's most popular social media apps, with more than 1 billion active users globally. It counts the United States as its largest market.

Last month, TikTok said it had completed migrating U.S. users' information to servers at Oracle but it was still using U.S. and Singapore data centers for backup.

Chinese-owned social media site TikTok told U.S. senators it was working on a final agreement with the Biden Administration that would “fully safeguard user data and U.S. national security interests,” according to a TikTok letter seen Friday by Reuters.

The letter dated Thursday came in response to questions raised in a June 27 letter by a few senators including Republicans Marsha Blackburn and Ted Cruz, TikTok said.

TikTok, owned by Chinese technology conglomerate ByteDance, is one of the world’s most popular social media apps, with more than 1 billion active users globally. It counts the United States as its largest market.

Also Read |US FCC commissioner asks Apple, Google to remove TikTok from their app stores TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew told senators in the letter the short video app was working with Oracle Corp on “new advanced data security controls that we hope to finalize in the near future.”

Last month, TikTok said it had completed migrating U.S. users’ information to servers at Oracle but it was still using U.S. and Singapore data centers for backup.

Tik1Tok’s letter acknowledged that China-based employees “can have access to TikTok U.S. user data subject to a series of robust cybersecurity controls and authorization approval protocols overseen by our U.S.-based security team.

The letter also said “ByteDance developed the algorithms for both Douyin and TikTok, and therefore some of the same underlying basic technology building blocks are utilized by both products.

Last month, TikTok said it had completed migrating U.S. users' information to servers at Oracle but it was still using U.S. and Singapore data centers for backup.​

should have come clean from the start but instead tried to shroud their work in secrecy.”​