Former ByteDance exec claims firm used bots to inflate TikTok engagement

TikTok remains to be combating to stay operational in america, however a brand new lawsuit might complicate issues even additional for the corporate. A former ByteDance government has alleged TikTok’s proprietor used bots and stolen content material to inflate the app’s engagement.

The lawsuit, filed by former head of engineering Yintao Yu and reported by The New York Instances, claims that ByteDance wrongly fired Yu after he pushed again on firm practices like stealing different apps’ materials. It additionally claims that ByteDance acted as a “helpful propaganda instrument for the Chinese language Communist Social gathering,” and that China-based workers might entry US customers’ knowledge.

As The New York Instances factors out, Yu’s allegations “describe how ByteDance operated 5 years in the past” and are available after “a number of years of mediation.” Nonetheless, the claims are nonetheless more likely to gas much more scrutiny for TikTok, which is going through the prospect of a nationwide ban in america. Lawmakers and different officers have claimed that TikTok is a nationwide safety risk and that the app can’t be trusted to guard the information of US customers.

Yu’s allegations might intensify these issues. The lawsuit particulars “a particular unit of Chinese language Communist Social gathering members” at ByteDance places of work in Beijing who “guided how the corporate superior core Communist values.” He additionally alleges that ByteDance workers manipulated Douyin, the Chinese language model of TikTok, to suppress content material about protests in Hong Kong and “elevate content material that expressed hatred for Japan.”

A few of Yu’s claims additionally relate on to TikTok. Notably, he claims that ByteDance engineers stole well-liked content material from apps like Instagram and Snapchat and put the movies onto TikTok. He additionally alleges that the corporate used bot accounts to juice the app’s engagement metrics when it was simply beginning out and attempting to realize a foothold within the US. (Yu left the corporate in November 2018, shortly after ByteDance rebranded Musical.ly as TikTok.)

A spokesperson for ByteDance informed Engadget: “We plan to vigorously oppose what we imagine are baseless claims and allegations on this criticism. Mr. Yu labored for ByteDance Inc. for lower than a 12 months and his employment led to July 2018. Throughout his temporary time on the firm, he labored on an app referred to as Flipagram, which was discontinued years in the past for enterprise causes.” On the allegation of scraping, in addition they mentioned: “ByteDance is dedicated to respecting the mental property of different corporations, and we purchase knowledge in accordance with trade practices and our world coverage.”

TikTok has repeatedly tried to downplay its ties to ByteDance and China, together with in CEO Shou Zi Chew’s congressional testimony in March. The corporate has additionally devoted greater than a billion {dollars} into Project Texas, which goals to wall off TikTok’s US person knowledge from the remainder of ByteDance in an effort to allay the issues of US regulators.

Replace 05/12/23: Added a press release from ByteDance.

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