Explainer · card E01 · 60 seconds
01 / 08 · Setup
TIKTOK HAS MY DATA.
but what does it do with it?
02 / 08 · Tension
RECOMMENDATIONS ? TRACKING JOURNALISTS.
december 2022
03 / 08 · Reveal
INTERNAL AUDIT AND RISK CONTROL
ByteDance team in Beijing · operation "find the source"
04 / 08 · Mechanism
app data → reporter geolocation → source identification
TikTok app
FT reporter
ByteDance audit
hunting internal leak
Cristina Criddle (FT) and Emily Baker-White (Forbes) — surveilled
05 / 08 · Scale
SEVERAL HUNDRED JOURNALISTS. 4 EMPLOYEES FIRED.
2 China
employees fired
2 USA
employees fired
DOJ
criminal investigation
06 / 08 · Disclosure
DECEMBER 2022
Cristina Criddle
Financial Times
Emily Baker-White
Forbes
NYT
investigation
ByteDance admits, 4 employees fired
07 / 08 · Consequence
PAFACA
US law · 270 days to sell TikTok · April 2024
SCOTUS January 2025: ban upheld. Shou Zi Chew testified before Senate. DOJ criminal investigation ongoing.
08 / 08
BYTEDANCE
The platform tracked those who wrote about it. Two continents. Four firings. One law.
Card E01 in Big Tech Files.