ByteDance tracking pandemic lab leak theory mentions on TikTok: Forbes

SHANNON LONGWORTH: IT APPEARS BYTEDANCE MAY BE USING A TOOL, RUN BY STAFF IN CHINA, TO TRACK THE MENTIONS OF CERTAIN WORDS ON TIKTOK, ACCORDING TO A FORBES INVESTIGATION. THE REPORT SAYS THIS TOOL ALSO AIMS TO RECORD *WHO* MENTIONS THE WORDS AND WHERE THEY’RE LOCATED.

FORBES OBTAINED INTERNAL DOCUMENTS, WHICH INCLUDE BYTEDANCE’S LIBRARY OF “SENSITIVE” WORDS…SOME OF THE LISTS ARE POLITICAL IN NATURE…INCLUDING LANGUAGE ABOUT UYGHURS, TAIWAN, AND HONG KONG. OTHERS APPEAR TO MONITOR DISCUSSION ABOUT THE COVID19 PANDEMIC AND CHINA–SPECIFICALLY FLAGGING MENTIONS OF THE LAB LEAK THEORY.

BYTEDANCE DECLINED TO COMMENT ON THESE LISTS, SO WE DON’T KNOW FOR SURE WHY THE COMPANY’S MONITORING THESE WORDS. BUT WE DO KNOW THAT, ON THESE LISTS, SOME OF THE WORDS ARE MARKED “MUST KILL,” “FORBIDDEN” OR “PROHIBITED”–INDICATING BYTEDANCE MIGHT BE SUPPRESSING THE SPREAD OF CERTAIN INFORMATION ON TIKTOK.

IN OTHER NEWS ABOUT THE SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM…THE WALL STREET JOURNAL IS REPORTING THAT, ACCORDING TO FORMER EMPLOYEES, TIKTOK WAS TRACKING USERS WHO WATCHED GAY CONTENT. THOSE EMPLOYEES REPORTEDLY SAID SOME PERSONNEL COULD INTERNALLY ACCESS A DASHBOARD OF THE USERS WHO HAD WATCHED VIDEOS THAT FELL UNDER THE LGBT CATEGORY.

ALLEGEDLY, EMPLOYEES IN THE US, UK AND AUSTRALIA EXPRESSED CONCERN IN 2020 AND 2021, AS THEY CONSIDERED THIS INFORMATION TO BE SENSITIVE…FEARING SOMEONE MIGHT SHARE IT OUTSIDE THE COMPANY.

A TIKTOK SPOKESPERSON SAID THE DASHBOARD FOR THIS DATA WAS DELETED IN THE US ABOUT A YEAR AGO.

AS TIKTOK CONTINUES TO ATTRACT MILLIONS OF USERS GLOBALLY, WE CONTINUE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW MUCH FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND USER PRIVACY ACTUALLY EXISTS ON THE PLATFORM. CALLS TO BAN–OR AT LEAST RESTRICT–THE APP IN THE US CONTINUE.