TikTok Owner Spends Record $2.14 Million on US Lobbying
ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of social media video streaming sensation TikTok, spent a record $two.xiv million on lobbying during the second quarter as information technology sought to fend off escalating congressional attacks over its privacy and security practices.
The company'south lobbying spending increased almost 130% from the outset quarter, a sign that TikTok's authorities affairs operation is escalating its attending to Congress after a lull. This twelvemonth'due south second quarter spending increased xvi.3% over a year earlier, when the visitor spent $1.84 million.
TikTok has been the object of increasing scrutiny from lawmakers and officials who have expressed concerns in recent months over the data privacy granted to US users and whether their personal data can be accessed by the Chinese government.
Relations betwixt People's republic of china and the United states of america deteriorated later on former President Donald Trump hitting China with import duties starting in July 2018 after an investigation concluded China stole intellectual property from American companies and forced them to transfer technology.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden says he expects to speak to Chinese leader Xi Jinping "within the next ten days," equally the The states considers whether lifting some tariffs on Chinese imports would help stalk rampant inflation.
In the past calendar month, ByteDance has exchanged messages with US senators following a report past Buzzfeed News that said TikTok's US consumer data was accessed by company engineers in China. The lawmakers said TikTok and ByteDance "are using their access to a treasure trove of Us consumer data to surveil Americans." TikTok responded, acknowledging that certain Prc-based employees tin admission information from American users, but denied that data goes to the Chinese Communist Political party.
Brendan Carr, a Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission, has been a stiff opponent of the app, pushing Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'due south Google to remove information technology from their stores. Carr testified to a Business firm panel earlier this month about his business that military personnel using TikTok could be risking national security.
For more: TikTok Tells United states of america Senators That It's Working on Information Practices
Last week, the company named a new head of global security as part of its evolving approach "to minimize concerns about the security of user information in the The states, including the cosmos of a new department to manage US user data for TikTok," Chief Executive Officeholder Shou Zi Chew and ByteDance Vice President of Technology Dingkun Hong said in a statement.
At the aforementioned fourth dimension, the company has been working with the United states of america government on strengthening data security around that information — especially anything divers as "protected" by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the Us, or Cfius. TikTok is also shifting its platform to Oracle Corp.'southward cloud infrastructure, which means the app and the algorithm will be accessed and deployed for US users from domestic information centers.
TikTok hired its first lobbyist in 2019 and has chop-chop built out its Washington operations since. BM
Source: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-07-21-tiktok-owner-spends-record-2-14-million-on-us-lobbying/
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