TikTok spied on journalist through Cat’s account
- Financial Times journalist Cristina Criddle was targeted by tech workers
- TikTok’s parent company blames actions on the ‘misconduct of a few individuals’
A British journalist was spied on by TikTok in an attempt to uncover the sources of her critical stories about the controversial Chinese company.
Tech workers snooped on the location of Financial Times technology correspondent Cristina Criddle through an account she created in the name of her pet cat, Buffy.
The hack of the phones of Ms Criddle and another journalist was blamed on the “misconduct of a few individuals” by Beijing-based parent company ByteDance when the story first emerged in December.
But experts say a lot of effort must have gone into tracking her down through the cat account, which didn’t give her real name and only had 170 followers.
Hackers tried to match her IP address – the unique number for every device connected to the internet – to colleagues suspected of informing her, to prove they had been in close proximity to each other.
In the photo: Cristina Criddle (file photo). The hack of the phones of Ms Criddle and another journalist was blamed on the ‘misconduct of a few individuals’ by Beijing-based parent company ByteDance when the story first emerged in December
Pictured: Buffy, Mrs. Criddle’s cat. Experts say a lot of effort must have gone into tracking her down through the cat account, which didn’t give her real name and only had 170 followers
Ms Criddle spoke about it for the first time, telling the BBC that the ‘really chilling’ episode was ‘quite violent’.
She added, “I’m super careful right now. I need to make sure there is no chance of my devices being tracked. If my location is being monitored 24/7, it’s not just limited to my actions at work… this also applied to my personal life.’
ByteDance has said it “deeply regrets” the “significant violation” of its rules and has fired those involved.
Asked about the March incident ahead of a US congressional committee, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew claimed, “I don’t think espionage is the right way to describe it.”