TikTok employees used Lark to send sensitive data about U.S.users, information that has wound up being stored on Chinese servers and accessible to ByteDance employees in China, federal officials said.The measure was passed with bipartisan support after lawmakers and administration officials expressed concerns that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over U.S.
user data or sway public opinion towards Beijing’s interests by manipulating the algorithm that populates users’ feeds.The Justice Department warned, in stark terms, of the potential for what it called “covert content manipulation” by the Chinese government, saying the algorithm could be designed to shape content that users receive.“By directing ByteDance or TikTok to covertly manipulate that algorithm; China could for example further its existing malign influence operations and amplify its efforts to undermine trust in our democracy and exacerbate social divisions,” the brief states.The concern, they said, is more than theoretical, alleging that TikTok and ByteDance employees are known to engage in a practice called “heating” in which certain videos are promoted in order to receive a certain number of views.While this capability enables TikTok to curate popular content and disseminate it more widely, U.S.officials posit it can also be used for nefarious purposes.
Nothing in the redacted brief “changes the fact that the Constitution is on our side," TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said in a statement.“The TikTok ban would silence 170 million Americans’ voices, violating the 1st Amendment,” Haurek said."As we’ve said before, the government has never put forth proof of its claims, including when Congress passed this unconstitutional law.Today, once again, the government is taking this unprecedented step while hiding behind secret information.
We remain confident we will prevail in court.”But Justice Department officials said other policies may have been applied to TikTok users outside of China.TikTok was investigating the existence of these policies and whether they had ever been used in the U.S.in, or around, 2022, officials said.
The government points to the Lark data transfers to explain why federal officials do not believe that Project Texas, TikTok’s $1.5 billion mitigation plan to store U.S.user data on servers owned and maintained by the tech giant Oracle, is sufficient to guard against national security concerns.In its response, the Justice Department argued TikTok has not raised any valid free speech claims, saying the law addresses national security concerns without targeting protected speech, and argues that China and ByteDance, as foreign entities, aren’t shielded by the First Amendment.TikTok has also argued the U.S.
law discriminates on viewpoints, citing statements from some lawmakers critical of what they viewed as an anti-Israel tilt on the platform during its war in Gaza.Oral arguments in the case is scheduled for September.