Under intense scrutiny from Washington that could lead to a possible ban, the top attorneys for TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance defended the social media platform's plan to protect US user data from China.
"The basic approach we're pursuing is to make it physically impossible for any government, including the Chinese government, to access US consumer data," General Counsel Eric Anderson said in an interview with The Associated Press. said during a wide-ranging interview. A cybersecurity conference organized by the Hewlett Foundation and Aspen Digital was held in Sausalito, California on Friday, bringing together top government officials, tech executives, and journalists.
ByteDance will continue to develop its new app Lemon 8, Anderson said.
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"We're doing our best with the Lemon8 app to comply with US law and make sure we do the right thing here," Anderson said, referring to the new social app by ByteDance. It is similar to Instagram and Pinterest. "But I think we've got a long way to go with this application — it's an early stage."
ByteDance's most popular app, TikTok, has come under intense scrutiny over concerns it could hand over user data to the Chinese government or push pro-Beijing propaganda and disinformation on its behalf. Lemon 8 was introduced to app stores in Japan in April 2020 and has since been rolled out to more countries. It is available for download in the US and may face similar scrutiny on TikTok.
