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It’s trendy to pretend that concerns about Chinese tech domination are just a smoke screen by US executives, but if you actually care about privacy, safety and content moderation then you need to pay attention to TikTok. https://t.co/wg5TDoJN4z
— Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) November 5, 2019
1. Social media is a corrupt and dangerous business model. TikTok is a great illustration, a global platform organized by Chinese Communist Party censors. The problem is the *business model.* https://t.co/JJXjDcJt9p
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) November 5, 2019
Now: Hawley opens hearing pointing out many of the issues raised in our story, criticizing TikTok -- as well as Apple -- for not being here to testify https://t.co/7r5of7L93Y
— Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) November 5, 2019
"U.S. employees said moderators based in Beijing had the final call on whether flagged videos were approved"
— Jeff Roberts (@jeffjohnroberts) November 5, 2019
Remember when the free market was supposed to lead China to adopt Western values? Instead we get this ⬇️https://t.co/oXGGVWzqsH
“But the purse is still in China: The money always comes from there, and the decisions all come from there.” https://t.co/mETqSvuWq7
— Navy Chief of Information (@chinfo) November 5, 2019
TikTok employees pro-actively censored content they worried might offend the #CCP.
— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) November 5, 2019
Disgusted? Yes. Shocked? Not a bit.
We shouldn’t be surprised when a company that answers to a restrictive, authoritarian regime behaves accordingly.https://t.co/u64dBsF7nb
Not doing a good job given all the pro-trump stuff I see on TikTok. https://t.co/Nm68BkAiNN
— Ben Bajarin (@BenBajarin) November 5, 2019
Six former TikTok employees say the company removes any content that is critical of the Chinese government. From @TonyRomm and @drewharwell https://t.co/vsPpCoKdY7
— Reed Albergotti (@ReedAlbergotti) November 5, 2019
Good read. I would also note that TikTok in my estimation lied to me while attempting to persuade me to withdraw my suggestion that they were editing content (note: editing doesn’t mean removal; it can be adjusting visibility) https://t.co/GhHdK7bxTl
— Ben Thompson (@benthompson) November 5, 2019
TikTok executives, speaking for first time, told us in statement that their old "'one-size-fits-all’ approach" to content no longer works. They're bulking up U.S. team to work "without executives 10,000 miles away involving themselves in their decisions" https://t.co/AlUiibLPb8
— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) November 5, 2019
New: Former TikTok employees told us the company's Beijing-based leadership often overrode their censorship concerns and restricted lots of social and political videos. "They want to be a global company ... but the decisions all come from China" https://t.co/AlUiibLPb8 @TonyRomm
— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) November 5, 2019
TikTok U.S. says they're independent from Chinese owners, though TikTok U.S. manager's boss reports directly to Chinese billionaire. TikTok says all U.S. data is stored in Virginia and Singapore. @alexstamos says that's irrelevant https://t.co/AlUiibLPb8 pic.twitter.com/pjkUK4u4aB
— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) November 5, 2019
Censorship directed from Beijing. Now we know why @tiktok_us was afraid to testify today. Lots to discuss this afternoon, including an interesting letter @tiktok_us just submitted to the committee https://t.co/EhHNRrh7iZ
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) November 5, 2019
.@tiktok_us claims they have never been asked by the govt of #China “to remove any content & would not do so if asked. Period."
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 5, 2019
But former employees detailed how inside company U.S. views about censorship often were overridden by Chinese bosses https://t.co/2GXTRUvtvV
Censorship directed from Beijing. Now we know why @tiktok_us was afraid to testify today. Lots to discuss this afternoon, including an interesting letter @tiktok_us just submitted to the committee https://t.co/EhHNRrh7iZ
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) November 5, 2019
Inside TikTok: A culture clash where U.S. views about censorship often were overridden by the Chinese bosses https://t.co/b3KRBspY7h as a parent who hates this cesspool anyway this is just another reason to not use this app
— Bill Bishop (@niubi) November 5, 2019
요즘 핫하다는 TikTok을 미국에서 안보 위협으로 보려는 가운데, 미국용 앱에 중국측이 간섭하지 않는다는 제작사의 주장과는 달리 중국내의 간부가 컨텐츠의 게시 승인여부를 최종결정하며 미국내 스탭의 결정이 번복된 적도 있다고 전직 직원 복수가 폭로. https://t.co/l5AH0F5OP9
— 푸른곰 (@purengom) November 5, 2019
Deeply buried in this Post story on TikTok:
— Jeff Yang (@originalspin) November 5, 2019
Moderators at China-based parent company ByteDance have flagged and downvoted videos that discuss Black American social/political issues as “urban content”https://t.co/TXUiBIOeNU pic.twitter.com/eygh97ObQw
TikTok employees pro-actively censored content they worried might offend the #CCP.
— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) November 5, 2019
Disgusted? Yes. Shocked? Not a bit.
We shouldn’t be surprised when a company that answers to a restrictive, authoritarian regime behaves accordingly.https://t.co/u64dBsF7nb
Ex-TikTok workers say they were forced to follow Chinese censorship rules
— Charles Mok 莫乃光 (@charlesmok) November 5, 2019
Tensions inside TikTok’s Beijing parent highlight growing challenge for US Internet as Chinese tech giants race to expand and compete more directly with western social-media firmshttps://t.co/E7d5GlvSp7
NEW: Former TikTok employees tell us they felt pressured to suppress politically/culturally sensitive videos to satisfy Chinese owners. TikTok says it moved content moderation leadership to US in Jan., but censorship fears linger. From @drewharwell + me: https://t.co/Yf65UXsWbc
— Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) November 5, 2019
China’s TikTok Blazes New Ground. That Could Doom It. https://t.co/jeT5WY4Pb9
— David Mulroney (@David_Mulroney) November 5, 2019
The rise of the seemingly innocuous app is forcing Americans to consider a world influenced by a Chinese-backed social media network. I took a close look at TikTok’s parent company Bytedance & its relationship with the Chinese gov’t. It’s complicated... https://t.co/76VxI3slpO
— Li Yuan (@LiYuan6) November 5, 2019
TikTok is ascending on the global internet scene just as the technological Iron Curtain is drawing. It has had nearly 1.5 billion downloads globally and 122 million in the United States, according to Sensor Tower. https://t.co/PTtnGSrJAw
— Li Yuan (@LiYuan6) November 5, 2019
“Zhang Yiming and his engineers train the machine to understand your heart,” a blogger, He Jiayan, wrote of founder of Bytedance, TikTok’s parent company. “At the same time they’re training you so you’ll be addicted to the machine.” https://t.co/76VxI3slpO
— Li Yuan (@LiYuan6) November 5, 2019
I agree completely. This company is too big to ignore and Xi is not going to let it operate freely in his Orwellian police state.https://t.co/QYV4BQkIGU
— Doug (@Doug24Seven) November 5, 2019
.@Apple & @tiktok_us were no shows today. And no wonder: both companies endangering American consumers’ privacy & security https://t.co/PjR9KjmdFb
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) November 5, 2019
"Apple & TikTok took a lashing Tuesday for skipping a congressional hearing meant to explore the tech industry & its ties to China, an absence that threatens to bring sustained political scrutiny of the companies’ controversial relationships with Beijing." https://t.co/BYv3PH0mZQ
— Senator Hawley Press Office (@SenHawleyPress) November 5, 2019
"TikTok's efforts have largely been rebuked so far, and the GIFCT has not granted #TikTok — one of the largest and fastest-growing social media platforms in the world — a formal membership amid concerns about its data collection and censorship practices." https://t.co/hN7LyTpuOE
— Maura Conway (@galwaygrrl) November 5, 2019
lil scoop: TikTok has been trying to join the consortium of tech companies tasked with countering online terrorism and extremism, called the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism. the Chinese-owned social media app has been rebuked so far. https://t.co/UWw9gKrDqK
— Emily Birnbaum (@birnbaum_e) November 4, 2019