TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance are facing intense scrutiny from Washington over potential user data access by the Chinese government. ByteDance’s General Counsel Erich Andersen has defended the company’s plan to safeguard U.S. user data from China in an interview with the Associated Press. He stated that the plan is to make it “physically impossible” for any government including China to access U.S. user data. To address security concerns, the company has proposed Project Texas, which involves storing all U.S. user data on servers owned and maintained by Oracle. Despite this effort, some lawmakers have said that it is not enough and have pushed bills that could effectively ban TikTok. The company has been in talks with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and has said it would welcome legislation that applies broadly and evenly.
Key Points:
• TikTok and its parent company ByteDance are facing scrutiny from Washington over user data access.
• ByteDance General Counsel Erich Andersen has defended the company’s plan to safeguard U.S. user data from China.
• Project Texas has been proposed to store all U.S. user data on servers owned and maintained by Oracle.
• Some lawmakers have pushed bills that could effectively ban TikTok.
• The company has been in talks with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and has said it would welcome legislation that applies broadly and evenly.