TikTok faces legal battle over data privacy and national security concerns

The Justice Department has stepped up surveillance of TikTok, accusing the popular social media platform and its parent company, ByteDance, of collecting sensitive user data through an internal system known as Lark. Government documents filed with a federal appeals court in Washington allege that TikTok employees used Lark to pass U.S. user information to ByteDance engineers in China.

Authorities allege that ByteDance employees have access to the data, which is stored on Chinese servers. This raises concerns about “covert manipulation of the content”. The Justice Department claims that China could abuse this ability to influence public opinion and endanger national security.

The legal battle could determine TikTok’s future in the United States, as a law signed by President Joe Biden could lead to a ban if TikTok does not sever ties with ByteDance. TikTok, defending itself, argues that a ban would violate the First Amendment and claims the government’s claims are unproven. Oral arguments are scheduled for September.

(With input from agencies.)