CCP-Linked TikTok Collected Data Of American Users’ Political Views, DOJ Says

The Department of Justice (DOJ) alleged on Friday that TikTok and its Chinese parent company collected sensitive data from their American users, according to court filings.

The DOJ alleged in court filings that TikTok had been collecting Americans’ user data on their views regarding sensitive topics like abortion, gun control and religion, arguing that the app poses a “potential threat to U.S. national security.” The DOJ’s latest filings follow a federal lawsuit TikTok filed in May after President Joe Biden signed legislation that gave the app’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, until January of 2025 to formally divest itself of the platform or risk a total ban in the U.S.

TikTok argued that the law, which required either a sale or a ban of the popular app, is a free speech violation for the 170 million American users, according to a statement in an X post on Saturday.

“The U.S. Intelligence Community assesses that ByteDance and TikTok pose a potential threat to U.S. national security because they could be used by the against the United States in two principal ways,” the most recent filing reads. “Malign foreign influence targeting U.S. persons, and collection of sensitive data of U.S. persons.”