Get All Access for $5/mo

Chinese Communist Party Had 'Supreme Access' to TikTok Parent Company ByteDance's Data, Former Executive Says Yintao Yu, a former ByteDance executive, is filing a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the company and alleging it engaged in "lawlessness."

By Madeline Garfinkle Edited by Jessica Thomas

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Emmanuel Wong | Getty Images
Outside ByteDance office in Beijing, China on August 4, 2020.

The ongoing debate over whether or not TikTok parent company ByteDance has access to user data has become less a question of "Does it or doesn't it?" and more "Just how much does it have? And who exactly has access to it?"

Yintao Yu, who served as the U.S. head of engineering at ByteDance from August 2017 to November 2018, alleges that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had "supreme access" to all ByteDance data, including that of U.S. users, The New York Times reported.

Yu, who is suing the company for wrongful dismissal, claims that the CCP had a designated unit at ByteDance's Beijing office — sometimes referred to as the "Committee" — and members of the CCP monitored the company and "guided how it advanced core Communist values," per the complaint.

"The Committee maintained supreme access to all the company data, even data stored in the United States," the lawsuit alleges. Although members of the committee didn't officially work for ByteDance, the CCP "played a significant role," and the tech giant became a "useful propaganda tool for the Chinese Communist Party."

Related: TikTok Tracked People Who Viewed Gay Content, Categorizes Users In 'Clusters'

The data was made available to the CCP through a "backdoor channel," Yu claims, and included all company data regardless of location — making U.S. user data no exception.

In his lawsuit, Yu also accuses the company of "lawlessness," citing one example of ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming bribing Lu Wei, a senior government official in charge of internet regulation.

Yu also alleges the company used questionable practices to increase engagement on TikTok, such as posting copied content from Instagram and Snapchat without permission and deploying "fabricated users," which were essentially bots made to interact with content and boost engagement numbers.

"We plan to vigorously oppose what we believe are baseless claims and allegations," a ByteDance spokesperson told Entrepreneur.

Additionally, there seems to be a debate over Yu's tenure with the company. Although he claims to have worked at ByteDance for nearly 16 months, a spokesperson said he was with the company for less than a year.

"Mr. Yu worked for ByteDance Inc. for less than a year and his employment ended in July 2018," the spokesperson said — a claim that Yu is also disputing in his lawsuit.

Yu's complaint — baseless or not — is based on ByteDance's operations five years ago and may not apply to its current data practices. Still, it comes at a time when the company faces intense scrutiny in the U.S. over data privacy concerns.

Related: Why Is the U.S. Threatening to Ban TikTok? The Government Wants Chinese Owners to Sell Stakes

Madeline Garfinkle

News Writer

Madeline Garfinkle is a News Writer at Entrepreneur.com. She is a graduate from Syracuse University, and received an MFA from Columbia University. 

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Side Hustle

At Age 15, He Used Facebook Marketplace to Start a Side Hustle — Then It Became Something Much Bigger: 'Raised Over $1.6 Million'

Dylan Zajac, now a 21-year-old senior at Babson College, wanted to bridge the digital divide.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Innovation

These Entrepreneurs Created a League That Turns Gamers Into Pro Race Car Drivers: 'We're Giving Drivers a Sustainable Career Path'

Racing Prodigy's innovative E2Real sports league is lowering the high-cost barrier to entry for drivers to take their passion to the track.

Side Hustle

'I Just Hustled': She Earned More Than $300,000 Wrapping Gifts Last Year — and It All Started With a Side Hustle

When Michelle Hensley lost her husband to cancer, she needed to figure out how to earn an income for her family.

Business News

OpenAI Just Released Its Text-to-Video Generator, Sora. Here's How the New AI Could Impact Small Businesses and Creators.

Sora has a variety of use cases for businesses, from social media campaigns to video creation.

Science & Technology

Machines Are Surpassing Humans in Intelligence. What We Do Next Will Define the Future of Humanity, Says This Legendary Tech Leader.

Craig Mundie, co-author of "Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope and The Human Spirit" dives into the unrivaled power of AI.