TikTok disclosed a letter on Thursday that accused the Biden administration of engaging in “political demagoguery” during high-stakes negotiations between the government and the company as it sought to relieve concerns about its presence in the US.
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Protests at US Congress after House passes bill that could potentially ban TikTok nationwide
Protests at US Congress after House passes bill that could potentially ban TikTok nationwide
TikTok has said those talks ultimately resulted in a 90-page draft security agreement that would have required the company to implement more robust safeguards around US user data. It would have also required TikTok to put in a “kill switch” that would have allowed CFIUS to suspend the platform if it was found to be non-compliant with the agreement.
However, lawyers for TikTok said the agency “ceased any substantive negotiations” with the company after it submitted the draft agreement in August 2022.
CFIUS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Justice Department said it is looking forward to defending the recently enacted legislation, which it says addresses “critical national security concerns in a manner that is consistent with the First Amendment and other constitutional limitations”.
“Alongside others in our intelligence community and in Congress, the Justice Department has consistently warned about the threat of autocratic nations that can weaponise technology – such as the apps and software that run on our phones – to use against us,” the statement said. “This threat is compounded when those autocratic nations require companies under their control to turn over sensitive data to the government in secret.”
The letter sent to Newman details additional meetings between TikTok and government officials since then, including a March 2023 call the company said was arranged by Paul Rosen, the US Treasury’s undersecretary for investment security.
After the Wall Street Journal reported in March 2023 that CFIUS had threatened ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a ban, TikTok’s lawyers held another call with senior staff from the Justice and Treasury departments where they said leaks to the media by government officials were “problematic and damaging”.
That call was followed by an in-person meeting in May 2023 between TikTok’s lawyers, technical experts and senior staff at the Treasury Department focused on data safety measures and TikTok’s source code, the company’s lawyers said. The last meeting with CFIUS took place in September 2023.
In the letter to Newman, TikTok’s lawyers say CFIUS provides a constructive way to address the government’s concern. However, they added, the agency can only serve this purpose when the law – which imposes confidentiality – and regulations “are followed and both sides are engaged in good-faith discussions, as opposed to political subterfuge, where CFIUS negotiations are misappropriated for legislative purposes.”
The legal brief also shared details of, but does not include, a one-page document the Justice Department allegedly provided to members of Congress in March, a month before they passed the federal bill that would require the platform to be sold to an approved buyer or face a ban.
TikTok’s lawyers said the document asserted TikTok collects sensitive data without alleging the Chinese government has ever obtained such data. According to the company, the document also alleged that TikTok’s algorithm creates the potential for China to influence content on the platform without alleging the country has ever done so.
Meanwhile, the US Justice Department will not pursue allegations that TikTok misled US consumers about their data security in a forthcoming lawsuit accusing the company of children’s privacy violations, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
The Justice Department is preparing to file a consumer protection lawsuit against TikTok later this year on behalf of the US Federal Trade Commission, which investigated the case, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Additional reporting by Reuters