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The Facts
ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, announced Thursday that the TikTok user data of two journalists had been improperly accessed, and the employees involved had left the company.
Those involved allegedly had accessed the journalists' data to determine if they had been in the same location as employees suspected of leaking confidential information. Of the four employees allegedly involved, two were in the US and two were in China.
The Spin
Narrative A
It’s becoming clear that TikTok is a threat to US national security. Though ByteDance initially denied the accusations, it eventually had to come clean as the topic attracted increasing media attention. Reporters have the right to not be spied on by tech companies — especially companies that are close to the Chinese government.
Narrative B
This incident was a privacy violation, but ByteDance has taken the appropriate steps to fix the issue. Although some are framing this incident as spying by TikTok, in reality, these actions were undertaken by rogue employees in an unsanctioned manner. ByteDance has disavowed the departed employees' actions and is implementing policies to prevent these types of breaches in the future.