TikTok’s chief security officer will step down in September as part of a restructuring of the agency, which has been embroiled in a long controversy over the protection of US users’ data. “It’s time for me to change my role (…) to become a strategic consultant, focusing primarily on the business impact of security and trust programs.”Quebec’s Roland Cloutier said in a note on Friday, which was then released by the company.
TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese group ByteDance, assured that this change is not related to recent political developments, but to the restructuring of the service. “One of our approaches to reducing data security concerns in the United States has been the creation of a new US Department of User Information Management.”In another internal memo posted online, group head Shou Zi Qiu and ByteDance’s vice president of technology, Dingkun Hong, said:
“It’s a significant investment in data protection, and it also changes the role of the chief security officer. With this in mind, Roland has decided to step down from his position to take on day-to-day operations., they added. In mid-June, the social network had to confirm, as reported in a BuzzFeed article, that employees in China had access to the data of American users of the platform.
Chinese government concerns
The news comes after months of concern by many US politicians that the popular app could be giving away personal information to the Chinese government. Two weeks ago, the social network sent a letter to nine Republican senators to reiterate that the Chinese Communist Party is not “Not requested to share this data.”
“We have not shared any information related to US users with CCP and will not share it if requested.”, TikTok claimed. The platform already announced in June that all data about these users will now be stored on Oracle Group servers in the United States, no longer in data centers in Virginia and Singapore. It is subject to review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an agency that assesses the risks of any foreign investment to US national security.
Source: Le Figaro
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.