The US Justice Department is investigating Chinese company ByteDance, owner of TikTok, for spying on two US journalists covering the technology sector, US media reported Friday.
The first to provide the information was the magazine’s journalist predeterminedEmily Baker-White, one of two whose data was illegally obtained by ByteDance employees, who was fired in December 2022 after the company acknowledged what happened.
According to predeterminedciting sources related to the investigation, the FBI is also conducting interviews about what happened, though it doesn’t clarify whether the investigations are related.
also the newspaper New York Times confirmed the US Justice Department investigation, which sources say began late last year.
In December, the Chinese company said in a statement that it “strongly condemned” the actions of the employees and that they were no longer working for the company. He also promised to cooperate with any investigation.
Officials allegedly accessed data such as journalists’ IP addresses and some of their contacts while trying to determine whether documents and internal conversations had been leaked, the agency reports. The New York Times.
The news comes as US authorities are tightening their stance on social network TikTok, justifying fears it could be used to collect data that will end up with the Chinese government.
In February, the White House gave US federal agencies 30 days to remove the social network from all government electronic devices.
Source: DN
