China's ByteDance finds employees obtained TikTok data of two journalists

Employees of Chinese tech giant ByteDance, the parent company of popular video app TikTok, improperly accessed data from TikTok to track journalists in a bid to identify the source of leaks to the media, the company admitted.

ByteDance told AFP on Friday that several staffers accessed two journalists' data as part of an internal probe into leaks of company information to the media.

They had hoped to identify links between staff and a Financial Times reporter and a former BuzzFeed journalist, an email from ByteDance's general counsel Erich Andersen seen by AFP said.

Both journalists previously reported on the contents of leaked company materials.

None of the employees found to have been involved remained employed by ByteDance, Andersen said, though he did not disclose how many had been fired.

In a statement to AFP, ByteDance said it condemned the "misguided initiative that seriously violated the company's Code of Conduct".

Employees had obtained the IP addresses of the journalists in a bid to determine whether they were in the same location as ByteDance colleagues suspected of disclosing confidential information, a company review of the scheme led by its compliance team and an external law firm found, according to Andersen.

The plan failed, however, partly because the IP addresses only revealed approximate location data.

READ MORE: US lawmakers push to ban TikTok on government devices

TikTok to build US Data Security

TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew that over the past 15 months the company had been working to build TikTok US Data Security (USDS) to ensure protected TikTok US user data stays in the United States.

"We are completing the migration of protected US user data management to the USDS department and have been systematically cutting off access points," he wrote.

TikTok has again come under the spotlight in the United States, with Congress poised to approve a nationwide ban on using the wildly popular short-video app on government devices owing to perceived security risks.

The House of Representatives could this week adopt a law prohibiting the use of TikTok on the professional phones of civil servants, a move that would follow bans in around 20 US states.

TikTok has sought to convince US authorities that US data is protected and stored on servers located in the country. 

But following media reports, it has also admitted that China-based employees had access to US users' data, although the company insisted it was under strict and highly limited circumstances.

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