TikTok Australia boss fields tough questions about the apps links to China

TikTok Australian boss has been put to the test in a tense interview where he distanced himself from the company of his Chinese ties amid a growing debate over banning the popular app.

Managing director of operations Lee Hunter said the video-sharing platform would not provide information to the Chinese government when asked, but had no answer if the Communist Party or its intelligence agencies could just take it.

Code hackers recently revealed that the app can collect incredibly in-depth information about its users – from their location data to their keystrokes, facial recognition, voice recognition, and information about other apps, such as calendar events.

‘Our parent company ByteDance was founded outside of China. I think what we’re seeing out there is a lot of associations with China that just aren’t true,” Hunter told 60 Minutes reporter Amelia Adams in an interview that aired Sunday.

“We are not affiliated with the CCP… Australian users, their TikTok data is held in the US and Singapore.”

Ms Adams countered his argument, saying it was “insincere” as TikTok’s recent submission to a government inquiry said it was “very proud of its Chinese heritage”.

“Look, we are not affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party and I think this is something that needs to be corrected.”

“But your parent company does?” said Mrs. Adams.

A recent filing with an Australian Senate committee investigating foreign interference via social media identified senior executives at ByteDance as having strong ties to the CCP.

The entry was submitted by Rachel Lee, Prudence Luttrell, Matthew Johnson and John Garnaut, experts in the field.

“It’s very important for Aussies to understand that the most important thing for us is to keep their user data safe and respect their privacy,” Mr Hunter said.

But Ms. Adams insisted, “If the CCP or someone from the Chinese government or national intelligence agency asked for that data?”

“We wouldn’t give it to them,” he replied.

“Well, they wouldn’t ask you, they would take it?” said Mrs. Adams.

Mr. Hunter seemed to have no answer.

“Well, we’re dealing with hypothetical concerns here that would apply to any Chinese national working for a company based outside of China,” he said.

“I think that borders on xenophobia and I think that’s worrying, I think we have to be careful about how we work with China.

“TikTok is not China, we are an entertainment platform.”

Amelia Adams urged Hunter if the company could prevent the CCP or Chinese intelligence agencies from using just the data it collected

A ban on TikTok would be a plus for rivals Snap and Meta after the ByteDance-owned company proves to be the app of choice for connected social media users

Australian Senator James Paterson is expected to drag Australian company executives to parliament as he explores how social media platforms can be used for foreign interference.

“It has absolutely nothing to do with the ethnicity of the people who work for or run TikTok,” he said.

‘I do not care. I care about the government they are obliged to and whether it was the Chinese Communist Party or some other authoritarian system, we should be concerned about that.”

“It’s a very powerful player in our region and that means we need to look at this through a different light, through the lens of national security.”

“Otherwise we are very complacent.”

Senator James Paterson is expected to bring TikTok Australia executives to parliament as the government decides whether to follow other countries and ban the app for those working in defence, intelligence and government

TikTok previously wrote to Senator Paterson revealing that TikTok employees, including those in China, had access to data on the app’s seven million Australian users, despite that data being stored in the US and Singapore.

And that data is amazingly thorough.

Thomas Perkins, an American software analyst, has taken apart the TikTok code for Australian cybersecurity company Internet 2.0

“We then went line by line and compared to see if their public statements matched what the app was doing,” said his boss Rob Potter.

“They said they didn’t collect GPS location data and we saw that they collected a lot of location data.”

“We saw that it could access the user’s calendar to see what else was going on in your calendar.”

“One of the big things we saw was TikTok specifically saying they don’t have any user data in China.

“And when we studied the application, we saw that it regularly connected to Chinese servers.

“If TikTok says we don’t have a server in mainland China. That is certainly not true.’

Australia is expected to soon follow a range of other countries and ban the app for those in the government, intelligence and defense industries.

In the US Congress, the White House, the US military and more than half of the US states have already banned the use of the app on official devices.

Similar bans have been imposed elsewhere, including Denmark, Canada, Britain, France and New Zealand, as well as the European Union.

There is pressure on TikTok to get a new owner or lose access to the huge US market.

During a grueling five-hour hearing on Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew faced relentless questions from belligerent US lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle about the app’s ties to China and the danger to teens.

“Let me say this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” said Chew, a 40-year-old Harvard-educated former banker and resident of Singapore.

“Let me say this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said before the House Committee on Armed Services Committee hearing

Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) Speaks as TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew Testifies Before a |US House Energy and Commerce Committee Hearing Titled “TikTok: How Congress Can Protect US Data Privacy and Protect Children from Harm Online”

Nevertheless, the company has been dogged by claims that its Chinese ownership means user data could end up in the hands of the Chinese government or that it could be used to promote stories favorable to the country’s communist leadership.

In 2019, The Guardian reported that TikTok instructed its moderators to censor videos mentioning Tiananmen Square and images unfavorable to the Chinese government. The platform says it has since changed its moderation practices.

Commissioners also showed numerous TikTok videos encouraging users to self-harm and commit suicide. Many wondered why the platform’s Chinese counterpart, Douyin, does not contain the same potentially dangerous content as the US product.

Chew replied that it depends on the laws of the country where the app operates. He said the company has about 40,000 moderators who track malicious content and an algorithm that flags material.

Representative Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-GA) asked Chew if TikTok’s equivalent in China includes “death challenge” videos aimed at children, like the US version.

Concerns about the platform increased when ByteDance admitted in December that it had fired four employees last summer who had access to data on two journalists and people associated with them while trying to uncover the source of a leaked report on the company .

At the heart of many of the fears about TikTok is a 2017 Chinese law requiring local businesses to hand over personal data to the state if it is relevant to national security.

There is no evidence that TikTok has transferred such data, but fears are high due to the sheer amount of user data it collects.

Beijing itself on Friday denied it would ask Chinese companies to hand over data collected abroad, claiming it “places great importance on protecting data privacy.”

China “has never and will never require companies or individuals to collect or disclose data that is located abroad,” said Mao Ning, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, at a regular briefing.

“The US government has so far not provided any evidence that TikTok poses a threat to its national security,” Mao added.