ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, has been charged with enabling members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) access to the information of Hong Kong human rights activists and demonstrators. Former ByteDance executive Yintao Yu claims in a US court filing that users who submitted “protest-related content” were also recognised and monitored.

According to Yu, the CCP members had access to US TikTok user data as well. A ByteDance representative refuted the accusations and called them “baseless.”

The accusations come in a filing submitted this week in San Francisco Superior Court as a part of a case Yu filed.

Yu asserted in the filing that CCP committee members had access to a “superuser” or “god user” credential that gave them the ability to view all data gathered by ByteDance.

Additionally, he said that although the committee members were physically present at ByteDance’s offices in Beijing, they were not ByteDance employees.

Senior officials were aware of this, according to Yu, who served as the US branch’s head of engineering for ByteDance for around a year starting in August 2017.

The petition further claimed that in 2018, CCP committee members utilised their “god credential” to “identify and locate the Hong Kong protesters, civil rights activists, and supporters of the protests”.

Massive demonstrations in Hong Kong in 2014, known as the “Umbrella movement,” were held in support of the demand for the freedom to choose one’s own leader. Following then, there were less significant protests by civil rights advocates. Since Beijing clamped down with a harsh national security law in response to the anti-government rallies in 2019, most of this visible opposition has vanished.

An official from ByteDance aggressively refuted the accusations when reached for comment, saying, “We plan to vigorously oppose what we believe are baseless claims and allegations in this complaint.”

They added that Yu worked on the now-defunct Flipagram app during his brief time working for the business—less than a year.

“It’s curious that Yu has never raised these allegations in the five years since his employment for Flipagram was terminated in July 2018. His actions are clearly intended to garner media attention,” the ByteDance spokesperson added.

Yu’s assertions come as TikTok is the subject of intense global scrutiny.

Shou Zi Chew, the chief executive of TikTok, was grilled for four and a half hours in March during a US congressional session.

Democrats and Republicans both questioned Chew about the app’s data security and privacy policies as well as its potential connections to Beijing.

A TikTok representative claimed that the politicians were “grandstanding” after the fact. The first US state to pass a broad ban on the Chinese-owned video-sharing network was Montana in May.

In January 2024, the prohibition is expected to go into effect. Although it forbids app shops from selling TikTok, users who already own the software are still allowed to use it.

TikTok filed a lawsuit to prevent Montana from enforcing the ban because it interferes with its right to free speech in the US. The app was prohibited on government devices in Montana, a state with a population of just over a million, in December.

According to TikTok, 150 million Americans use the app. Although the app’s user base has grown recently, teenagers and users in their 20s continue to be its most loyal followers.

(Adapted from AlArabiya.net)