TikTok And US Government Agree To Make Data Security And Governance Changes

TikTok, guarantee the security of user data in the US. (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - US lawmakers and TikTok are drawing up plans under which the short-form video app will make changes to its data security and governance without requiring its parent company, ByteDance in China to sell it.

The New York Times reported on Monday, September 26 that TikTok and the Biden administration had drawn up a preliminary agreement to resolve national security concerns but were still deciding on a potential deal.

A TikTok spokesman declined to comment on the report but said the app believes it can "fully address all reasonable US national security concerns". ByteDance and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

TikTok has long faced scrutiny from US lawmakers, who have questioned the Chinese app's security of user data.

It has been more than two years since a US national security panel ordered parent company ByteDance to divest TikTok over concerns that US user data could be passed on to the Chinese communist government.

TikTok is one of the most popular social media apps in the world, with more than 1 billion active users globally, making the United States its largest market.

TikTok has been referred to as an application that is prone to data leaks and is abused by its owner, ByteDance. Moreover, the holding company is said to be under the control of the Chinese government.

Recently, a report about the TikTok breach appeared on the Forbes page. On the Breach Forums message board, an unknown user posted what is claimed to be a screenshot of a database table with a TikTok breach.

As users claim, they have stolen 2 billion database records, potentially affecting a large number of TikTok users. Several cybersecurity researchers took to Twitter and claimed that the data leak allegations were true.