by Jason Cohen at DC Enquirer
TikTok has stored thousands of TikTok creators’ and businesses’ financial data such as Social Security numbers and tax IDs in China, according to records obtained by Forbes.
TikTok CEO Shou Chew testified in March that TikTok stores American information in Virginia and Singapore, but Forbes obtained data that shows the platform stored it in China. The creators and businesses gave their data to the company to receive payment from the platform and TikTok stored it on Chinese servers that employees can access, according to Forbes.
TikTok applies different tools and databases from ByteDance, its Beijing-based parent company, to process payments to creators and vendors who make money on the platform, according to Forbes. This includes many of TikTok’s top creators in the U.S. and Europe, according to Forbes.
Forbes obtained internal communications, audio recordings, videos, screenshots and documents labeled “Privileged and Confidential” and spoke to multiple sources familiar with the matter, according to Forbes.
“The American data has always been stored in Virginia and Singapore in the past,” Chew stated in his testimony in March. “And access of this is on an as-required basis by engineers globally.”
“We remain confident in the accuracy of Shou’s testimony,” a TikTok spokesperson told Forbes.
The Chinese government has stolen American financial information before including…
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