TikTok pushes back strongly against a Forbes report claiming that the parent company wanted to use the video app to “track the personal location of some specific US citizens”. In a series of tweetsTikTok accused Forbes of omitting an essential part of his statement, which: says that “TikTok does not collect accurate GPS location data from US users,” despite claims in the article that parent company ByteDance considered obtaining “location data from US users’ devices.”

The article, posted earlier on thursdaysaid ByteDance’s internal audit team — usually tasked with monitoring those who currently work for the company or have worked for the company in the past — planned to audit at least two Americans who “never had an employment relationship.” with the company.” Forbes says its report was based on material it reviewed, but doesn’t detail who might be being tracked or why ByteDance planned to track them, claiming it could compromise its resources.

ForbesThe article says TikTok and ByteDance did not answer questions about whether the internal audit team had ever targeted U.S. politicians, activists, public figures or journalists, comparing the alleged plan to Uber’s “grey sphere” program that is in place in some cases targeted specific users. cases, regulators serve a deceptive version of the app.

In its thread, TikTok says that the app “never used to ‘target’everyone in those groups and that it doesn’t change the in-app experience for those people. (It’s worth noting that this isn’t an absolute denial of any consideration for specific targeting or that a request was ever made — TikTok just says its app wasn’t used for that purpose.) The company says that the audit team “follows established policies and processes to obtain information they need to conduct internal investigations.”

It is also claimed that someone was caught doing what? Forbes alleged in the article would be fired.

The security of TikTok data has been a widely expressed concern about the platform for years, especially for US lawmakers concerned about the Chinese government’s access to data on US citizens. After a report from June from BuzzFeed News Claiming that US user data was being accessed from China, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew wrote a letter to Republican critics outlining how the company intended to keep US user data separate from ByteDance.