SRC — TikTok
Folder: 05 - SOURCE MATERIAL Supporting: TikTok
Data Collection
TikTok Privacy Policy — Biometric Update June 2, 2021 — “Image and Audio Information” section added. https://www.tiktok.com/legal/page/us/privacy-policy/en Confirms: faceprints, voiceprints, keystroke patterns.
Carnegie Mellon — Alessandro Acquisti TIME Magazine, June 14, 2021 https://time.com/6071773/tiktok-faceprints-voiceprints-privacy/ Statement on permanent nature of biometric identifiers and re-identification risk.
$92M Biometric Settlement — 2021 Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) class action. Covers data practices up to October 13, 2022.
Ongoing Lawsuit — Post 2022 ByteDance motion to dismiss filed May 16, 2025. ID Tech Wire: https://idtechwire.com/bytedance-moves-to-dismiss-tiktok-biometric-privacy-lawsuit-in-us-courts/
ByteDance / China
BuzzFeed News — “Everything Is Seen In China” — June 2022 Audio from 80 internal TikTok meetings. ByteDance employees repeatedly accessed US user data. Original reporting: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emilybakerwhite/tiktok-tapes-us-user-data-china-bytedance-access
TikTok CEO Congressional Testimony March 23, 2023 — House Energy and Commerce Committee. Transcript: congress.gov
China National Intelligence Law Article 7: Chinese organisations and citizens shall support, assist, and cooperate with national intelligence work. Full text available at chinalawtranslate.com
The Ban and Sale
Supreme Court Ruling — January 17, 2025 TikTok Inc. v. Garland, 604 U.S. 56 (2025) Full opinion: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24-656_ca7d.pdf Unanimous. Data collection cited as primary constitutional justification.
The Sale — Closed January 22, 2026 Wikipedia — TikTok Inc. v. Garland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok,_Inc._v._Garland New entity: TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC Owners: Oracle, Silver Lake, MGX ByteDance retains algorithm initially.
Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act Signed April 24, 2024. congress.gov — full text available.
Citizen Lab Counterpoint
University of Toronto Citizen Lab (2021) Researcher: Pellaeon Lin Finding: TikTok data collection not significantly worse than Meta or Google. The difference is jurisdiction, not volume.
Content Suppression
The Guardian / The Intercept (2019) TikTok suppression of Tiananmen Square, Tibet, Falun Gong content documented. #investigate — current status post-policy changes unclear.
Still To Source
- Post-sale algorithm independence — ByteDance still controls algorithm as of close. Monitor for updates. #investigate
- Full scope of data retained by ByteDance post-sale — historical data status unclear #investigate
- Content suppression post-2019 policy changes — independent verification needed investigate
- Oracle data handling practices for TikTok US data — new owner, new questions investigate