While TikTok is currently ordered by the US government to separate from its parent company ByteDance, Forbes reveals that the US Department of Justice and the FBI have been investigating spying on US journalists by the Chinese app for several months.
Without giving a specific date, Forbes says the Justice Department’s Criminal Division has subpoenaed ByteDance. The fraud section and the Virginia prosecutor’s office requested ByteDance to provide them with information about its potential espionage of journalists: location or private data obtained through the TikTok application. The FBI reportedly conducted interviews related to this surveillance.
For its part, ByteDance reacted to Forbes“We have strongly condemned the actions of those involved, who are no longer ByteDance employees. Our internal investigation is still ongoing and we will cooperate with any official investigation brought to our attention,” said Jennifer Banks, a spokeswoman for the headquarters.
In December 2022, TikTok claimed that any employee who carried out acts of spying on journalists had been fired.
The noose is tightening around TikTok
The Department of Justice and the FBI are part of the Interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). This entity demanded that ByteDance separate from TikTok under penalty of banning the application in US territory. For several years, CFIUS has been trying to negotiate a national security contract with TikTok, without success.
Except the noose is tightening around TikTok as the US Congress seems increasingly concerned. A first concern was expressed last December about the possible surveillance of American journalists. US parliamentarians are also prohibited from using TikTok on their work phones.
Most importantly, on March 7, the Biden administration lent its support to the bill called “Law of restriction“allowing the banning of apps like TikTok and giving more power to the Minister of Commerce to ban this app.
Source: BFM TV
