Justice Department says TikTok collected user data on social issues 

As part of their argument for upholding a law recently signed by President Biden that may force the shutdown of TikTok, the Department of Justice is now alleging that the social media app is sending information on the social views of Americans to engineers in China. 

In a brief filed on Friday night reviewed by the Associated Press, the Justice Department accused TikTok and ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, of using an internal website system called Lark to allow for TikTok employees to communicate sensitive data about U.S. users with ByteDance engineers in China. 

The filing alleges that Lark’s internal search tools allowed TikTok and ByteDance employees in the U.S. and China to collect information on users’ content and opinions on abortion or religion. 

The Justice Department argues that this is not a theoretical point of concern but an opportunity for TikTok to covertly manipulate the algorithm on TikTok, an app where a user is presented with a series of videos based upon a complex algorithm that is supposed to be tailored to a person’s interest.

“By directing ByteDance or TikTok to covertly manipulate that algorithm, China could for example further its existing malign influence operations and amplify its efforts to undermine trust in our democracy and exacerbate social divisions,” the brief states.

Justice Department officials add that TikTok and ByteDance employees already engage in a practice called “heating” where they can decide to promote specific videos to receive a certain number of views, which U.S. officials say that the company can use to curate videos that could prove divisive. 

The Justice Department has also alleged that TikTok has applied a tool that suppresses content based on the use of certain trigger words. 

ByteDance operates a similar app to TikTok called Douyin where the company actively uses that suppression tool to conform with China’s strict censorship laws. But, the DOJ says that TikTok has done the same thing outside of China. TikTok has been investigated for these policies since 2022. 

This filing is part of a larger lawsuit between the U.S. government and TikTok over a bill President Biden signed into law in April, which will ban the Chinese-made social app used by hundreds of millions of Americans in a few months if ByteDance does not sell TikTok in America to an American-based operator. 

TikTok has vehemently fought against the bill, calling it unconstitutional. The Friday brief was the defense of the law that the DOJ has filed in the DC federal court; however, TikTok argues the brief does not change the facts of the case. 

"Nothing in this brief changes the fact that the Constitution is on our side,” TikTok posted on X. “As we've said before, the government has never put forth proof of its claims, including when Congress passed this unconstitutional law. Today, once again, the government is taking this unprecedented step while hiding behind secret information.

“We remain confident we will prevail in court,” the social media company added. 

The government argues that the existence of the Lark data transfer is further evidence against TikTok’s argument that Project Texas, TikTok’s $1.5 billion mitigation plan to store U.S. user date on servers owned and maintained by Oracle, is not enough to guard against national security concerns.

Federal officials are also asking the court to allow a classified version of the legal brief not accessible to the two companies, per the AP. 

The oral arguments for the case are set for September.