Ex-exec claims China has ‘supreme access’ to TikTok.

Former TikTok Executive Claims App is a Propaganda Tool for Chinese Communist Party

Allegations of Pro-Beijing Propaganda

A former executive at TikTok parent company ByteDance has filed a lawsuit claiming that the Chinese Communist Party uses the popular social media site as a “useful propaganda tool.” Yintao Yu, who led ByteDance’s engineering operations in the United States until 2018, alleges that Chinese Communist Party officials have “supreme access” to TikTok and use it to spread pro-Beijing messages.

Yu is suing ByteDance for wrongful termination after he blew the whistle on the company’s “worldwide scheme” to steal technology from its competitors. The New York Times reports that ByteDance fired Yu for his actions.

TikTok’s Lobbying Efforts

The Biden administration is currently considering a ban on TikTok over concerns that the Chinese government could use the app to surveil Americans and spread propaganda. TikTok has hired lobbyists and consulting firms to avoid a ban, with TikTok lobbyists visiting the White House more than 40 times since last year. The company recently hired the Democratic consulting firm SKDK to provide “communications support.”

Opposition to a TikTok Ban

Many Democrats oppose a TikTok ban, citing the app’s popularity with young, liberal voters. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo has said that a ban could result in losing “every voter under 35, forever.” Representatives Jamaal Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also oppose the ban, claiming they have not seen evidence of China using TikTok for surveillance or propaganda.

Claims of Communist Party Control

Yu alleges that ByteDance maintains a special unit in Beijing made up of Chinese Communist Party members who oversee content on TikTok. He claims that the unit “guided how the company advanced core Communist values” and had “supreme access to all the company data,” including data stored in the United States. Yu says he witnessed the propaganda initiative firsthand, with ByteDance engineers promoting anti-Japanese content and demoting posts expressing solidarity with pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

• TikTok is accused of being a propaganda tool for the Chinese Communist Party
• A former executive at ByteDance claims that the party has “supreme access” to the app
• The Biden administration is considering a ban on TikTok over concerns of surveillance and propaganda
• TikTok has hired lobbyists and consulting firms to avoid a ban
• Many Democrats oppose a ban, citing the app’s popularity with young, liberal voters
• ByteDance allegedly maintains a special unit in Beijing made up of Communist Party members who oversee content on TikTok