\n
![](\"https:\/\/readwrite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/TravbA1xQSuTWwCvKkcakA-900x561.webp\")
<\/p>\n [ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
The ongoing battle between the United States and TikTok continues as the Department of Justice has alleged that the video-based company has shipped personal information to China.<\/p>\n
This information is said by the Department to have allowed profiling of the app\u2019s users to take place.<\/p>\n
This all comes from a new filing that has emerged <\/a>while the duo are engaged in a major disagreement that would see the app\u2019s parent company ByteDance having to force a sale of the platform\u2019s US-based operations. If this doesn\u2019t happen, a full closure is required.<\/p>\n This document was filed on Friday, 26 July and on 16 September, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will hold oral arguments. It\u2019s then that the future of TikTok will be decided, following months of back-and-forth between the two.<\/p>\n The last few months have all come about as US lawmakers are concerned<\/a> the 170 million Americans who use the app could be having their data accessed by China.<\/p>\n The filing points to an internal tool called Lark, also known as \u2018Feishu,\u2019 which is apparently what TikTok staff use for internal communication. The filing says this hosts TikTok\u2019s internal platforms and allows employees to interface directly with engineers in China.<\/p>\n It\u2019s through Lark that the DoJ alleges \u201csignificant amounts of restricted US user data (including but not limited to personally identifiable information)\u201d was shared.<\/p>\n They say this has resulted in \u201ccertain sensitive U.S. person data being contained in Lark channels and, therefore, stored on Chinese servers and accessible to ByteDance employees<\/a> located in China.\u201d<\/p>\n The filing further claims that an internal project was created in 2022 that \u201caimed at identifying and removing certain sensitive U.S. user data improperly maintained on Lark channels.<\/p>\n \u201cAt least as of 2022, Lark contained multiple internal search tools that had been developed and run by China-based ByteDance engineers for scraping TikTok user data, including U.S. user data.\u201d<\/p>\n They say this allowed \u201cChina to collect bulk user information based on the user\u2019s content or expressions, including views on gun control, abortion, and religion.\u201d<\/p>\nUS says data has been shared through an internal communications tool<\/h2>\n