TikTok collected opinions from US users on issues like abortion and gun control, Justice Department says

The US Department of Justice has accused social media giant TikTok of collecting information on American users, including their views on controversial social issues such as gun control, abortion and religion.

TikTok employees and its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance used an internal system called Lark to share sensitive data about U.S. users — information that was stored on Chinese servers and was accessible to ByteDance employees in China, according to a Justice Department filing in a federal appeals court in Washington.

The Justice Department has warned of potential “hidden content manipulation” by the Chinese government, as the algorithm used by the app could affect the content users see.

“By instructing ByteDance or TikTok to covertly manipulate this algorithm, China could, for example, deepen its existing malign influence activities and advance its efforts to undermine trust in our democracy and deepen social divisions,” federal officials said in court papers.

The Wall Street Journal reported last year that the video app tracked users who viewed LGBTQ content through a dashboard that the company said was later removed.

The new court documents represent the government’s first major line of defense in the legal battle over the future of the popular social media platform, which has more than 170 million users in the U.S.

President Biden signed a law in April that could see TikTok banned within months if it continues its partnership with ByteDance.

The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support amid growing concerns that China and the ruling Chinese Communist Party would force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data or manipulate its algorithm.

The Justice Department said TikTok and ByteDance employees engaged in a practice known as “heating,” which involves displaying specific videos on users’ channels in order to achieve a certain number of views.

This allows the app to promote content of its choosing.

Justice Department officials have asked the court to release a secret version of its legal reasoning, which none of the companies will have access to.

TikTok spokesman Alex Haurek said nothing in the censored document indicated any unconstitutional activity.

“A TikTok ban would silence the voices of 170 million Americans, which would violate the First Amendment,” Haurek told The Associated Press.

“As we have said, the government has never produced evidence to support its claims, including when Congress passed this unconstitutional law. Today, once again, the government is taking this unprecedented step, hiding behind classified information. We remain confident that we will prevail in court.”

The oral hearing in this case is scheduled to begin in September.