TikTok denies tracking the locations of specific US citizens

TikTok denies that the social medium is used by parent company ByteDance to track the locations of American citizens. TikTok emphasizes that it does not collect accurate GPS information and that no members of the US government are tracked.

TikTok responds to social media on the allegations the company received from Forbes. The social media platform believes Forbes’ reporting lacks “both accuracy and journalistic integrity.” The American business magazine writes in an article that a team from ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, planned to track the locations of a number of specific American citizens from China.

According to TikTok, none of that is true. “TikTok does not collect accurate GPS information about the location of US users.” The company states that TikTok was unable to monitor US users, as the Forbes article suggests. TikTok also says the platform has “never been used to track members of the US government, activists, public figures or journalists.”

ByteDance’s internal audit department normally investigates potential misconduct by current and former company employees. However, according to Forbes, in two cases the audit team planned to collect the locations of US citizens through TikTok. These would be people who had no employment relationships with the company.

In a response to Forbes, TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan said that TikTok collects approximate location information from users based on IP addresses, but that the company only does this to show more relevant content and advertisements. However, according to Forbes, ByteDance planned to use this location information to monitor US citizens, not for advertising purposes. Against the BBC told Forbes it stands behind his article. “We have confidence in our sources and we stand behind our reporting.”

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