TikTok is reportedly conceding to U.S. officials as the Chinese-owned social media giant tries to avert being banned in America.
According to people familiar with the matter, the platform - owned by China-based firm ByteDance - offered to increase transparency by giving U.S. officials oversight of its algorithms as part of a $1.5 billion reorganization of its U.S. operations.
After years of scrutiny over concerns that the Chinese government has access to users' data, TikTok ramps up its efforts to convince regulators that user data is protected and secure.
Several U.S. states, including Texas, Maryland, South Carolina and New Jersey, have banned the use of TikTok on state-owned devices and networks over security concerns, and Congress has banned its use on federal government devices in the omnibus bill President Joe Biden signed into law weeks ago.
TikTok did not respond immediately to FOX Business' request for comment about its purported new transparency efforts, but in December the company issued a press release in December in which it said it was strengthening how we protect and secure our platform in the U.S. The company has created a new trust and safety team within its U.S. Data Security operation. TikTok also announced last summer that it would reroute all U.S. user traffic to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, but we expect to delete U.S. users' private data from our own data centers and fully switch to Oracle cloud servers in the U.S. TikTok is not only under the microscope in the U.S. over privacy concerns.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew met with EU officials last week to discuss how the social media platform will adhere to new digital regulations in Europe after regulators expressed concerns about its handling of citizens' data.