TikTok has admitted to spying on a group of its US users following a shocking internal investigation.
In a series of emails obtained by Forbes, the social media platform's parent company ByteDance was shown to have tracked the physical movements of multiple journalists using the app by gaining unauthorised access to their IP addresses and user data.
According to the outlet, the reason for the operation was to try and uncover the reporters' sources from within TikTok following articles published about the app's influence on America and its links to China.
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Back in November, FBI Director Christopher Wray told US Congress the bureau has 'national security concerns' about the Chinese-based social media app.
These concerns have only been exacerbated after an internal investigation discovered the covert surveillance operation, designed to find the sources of the information leaks using improperly obtained data.
Among those who were spied on includes journalists for BuzzFeed and The Financial Times, as well as two Forbes writers who previously worked for BuzzFeed.
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Emily Baker-White, who wrote for BuzzFeed and now works for Forbes, was one of those targeted.
Taking to Twitter, she wrote: "ByteDance used TikTok to track my location – and the locations of two of my colleagues – to try to find our sources.
"We reported on this back in October, but kept things vague to protect sources. Today ByteDance admitted it, so we can say much more."
The outlet explains that ByteDance's head of audit and risk control Song Ye has since left the company, while all four of the employees involved in the misconduct were fired.
TikTok's head of internal audit Chris Lepitak has also been fired. Two of the former employees were US-based while the other two were in China.
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ByteDance’s general counsel and chief executive, Erich Andersen and Rubo Liang respectively, opened up about the discovery in emails shared with Forbes.
Liang wrote: "I was deeply disappointed when I was notified of the situation... and I’m sure you feel the same.
"The public trust that we have spent huge efforts building is going to be significantly undermined by the misconduct of a few individuals."
Anderson added: "It is standard practice for companies to have an internal audit group authorized to investigate code of conduct violations.
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"However, in this case individuals misused their authority to obtain access to TikTok user data."
The news arrives after a bipartisan proposal in the US was unveiled calling for TikTok's removal from American shores.
Republican Senator Marco Rubio announced the bipartisan legislation, revealing that the purpose of the bill is to see the Chinese-owned app banned permanently in the country.
"This isn’t about creative videos. This is about an app that is collecting data on tens of millions of American children and adults every day. We know it’s used to manipulate feeds and influence elections," Rubio said n a statement.
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"We know it answers to the People’s Republic of China.
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"There is no more time to waste on meaningless negotiations with a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) puppet company. It is time to ban Beijing-controlled TikTok for good."
TikTok hit back at the proposed legislation, with a spokesperson for the app describing it as a 'politically-motivated ban' that will do nothing to actually advance America's national security.
"It is troubling that rather than encouraging the administration to conclude its national security review of TikTok, some members of Congress have decided to push for a politically-motivated ban that will do nothing to advance the national security of the United States," the spokesperson explained.
UNILAD has reached out to TikTok for comment.
Topics: TikTok, News, US News, China, Social Media, Technology