TikTok Unveils New US-Based 'Transparency and Accountability Center'

The Verge was part of "a handful" of journalists invited to Los Angeles to tour TikTok's new "Transparency and Accountability Center.... part of a multi-week press blitz by TikTok to push Project Texas, a novel proposal to the US government that would partition off American user data in lieu of a complete ban." TikTok says it has already taken thousands of people and over $1.5 billion to create Project Texas. The effort involves TikTok creating a separate legal entity dubbed USDS with an independent board from ByteDance that reports directly to the US government. More than seven outside auditors, including Oracle, will review all data that flows in and out of the US version of TikTok. Only American user data will be available to train the algorithm in the US, and TikTok says there will be strict compliance requirements for any internal access to US data. If the proposal is approved by the government, it will cost TikTok an estimated $700 million to $1 billion per year to maintain.....

At one point during the tour, I tried asking what would hypothetically happen if, once Project Texas is greenlit, a Bytedance employee in China makes an uncomfortable request to an employee in TikTok's US entity. I was quickly told by a member of TikTok's PR team that the question wasn't appropriate for the tour.
Other notes from the tour:

• The journalists weren't allowed to enter a special server room "housing the app's source code for outside auditors to review."

• A room that explained TikTok's algorithm using iMacs running "code simulators" was "frustratingly vague"

• "Despite it being called a transparency center, TikTok's PR department made everyone agree to not quote or directly attribute comments made by employees leading the tour."

The Verge ultimately concludes TikTok's Transparency and Accountability Center is "a lot of smoke and mirrors designed to give the impression that it really cares."

Re: US Government surveillance?

[daten]

I was under the impression this is the entire goal. The US Gov already controls the narrative with other social media networks that are allowed to exist. And they use the ones they control to generate fear and doubt about the rest. Curious why so many loyal subjects repeat the same lines about the Chinese government abusing Tiktok? And suddenly Elon Musk being hated after buying Twitter and refusing to bend the knee?

Thousands of apps have been vacuuming data for China for years. It's only a problem when

The Verge question

[Alain Williams]

At one point during the tour, I tried asking what would hypothetically happen if, once Project Texas is greenlit, a Bytedance employee in China makes an uncomfortable request to an employee in TikTok's US entity. I was quickly told by a member of TikTok's PR team that the question wasn't appropriate for the tour.

This was probably the most important and relevant question of all. That it was not answered strongly suggests that this new Project Texas is a straw man - all for show. I would be surprised if Chinese companies are not subject to an equivalent to the USA's Freedom Act [wikipedia.org] that obliges them to hand over any data that the government wants, no matter where it is located.

Re:

[UnixUnix]

Actually, the question WAS inappropriate for the tour -- considering the real purpose of the whole setup and the tour!

Re:

[Deal In One]

And what happens if an American travels out of the US for work / holidays?

Or for that matter someone visits the US for a while before returning to a home country which is not the US?

What happens to the data in both those cases?

The Actual Product.

[geekmux]

"The effort involves TikTok creating a separate legal entity dubbed USDS with an independent board from ByteDance that reports directly to the US government. More than seven outside auditors, including Oracle, will review all data that flows in and out of the US version of TikTok. Only American user data will be available to train the algorithm in the US, and TikTok says there will be strict compliance requirements for any internal access to US data."

When ignorant consumers of social media sit back and wonder how they still offer the product for free, this is how you gently remind then that they are in fact The Product being bought and sold.

Seriously. It's a metric fuckton of money bled directly from The Product to get that kind of consulting army backing your "US" based pet project.

Re:

[serviscope_minor]

No don't. Saying "you're the product" oversimplifies it to the point where people will roll their eyes and walk away.

There's a local free, advert supported paper which gets shoved through my letterbox. Does that make me three product? Does being the product depend if I read it? What if I accidentally catch the headline?

And what about KBQA 107.5 outlaw country, serving Santa Fe and Northern NM (and a tiny part of London thanks to the magic of the internet). Sure it's advert supported, but even on the off cha

I want to believe

[Unpopular Opinions]

The effort involves TikTok creating a separate legal entity dubbed USDS with an independent board from ByteDance that reports directly to the US government.

Still not convinced I should sign up.

“Strict compliance requirements”

[hdyoung]

for access to US data? Oh, yes, very strict. Only an official of the Chinese Communist party can access American Tik Tok data.

Didn’t somebody just fly a spy balloon over our nuclear sites and threaten us when we shot it down? What was that guy? What was his name again?

Now I'm Even MORE Alarmed

[m00nmuppet]

They only do these dog-and-pony shows when they've been really bad (and will continue to do so because now they have something to point to as "the fix").

I'd do that too

[Big Hairy Gorilla]

Yeah. Please enter the transparency centre. We will say whatever you want to hear. With a smile. Spend money. Yes. Lots of it. We are so transparent. When? Not sure. But we'll for sure do some of it soon. Yeah.

BeBe Rexha & Guetta love TikTok!!!

[oumuamua]

"It's just so crazy, so unexpected. We wrote the song just for fun, and then here we are at the Grammys, nominated — literally just like that! TikTok is amazing. It's a game-changer," said Rexha.

https://people.com/music/gramm... [people.com]
Look at that a link to people.com - on Slashdot - and it is completely relevant! Who would have imagined.

What a joke

[WindBourne]

This has been an ongoing joke for what? 3-4 years. Trump did nothing, even when China was sending spy balloons. Now, biden is taking forever to boot tiktok.
just kill China's access to Americans.

More than seven

[yo303]

> More than seven outside auditors, including Oracle, will review all data

We're all curious. Is it eight? Nine? It could be ten!

What does it matter?

[LondoMollari]

The parent company is still Chinese and, as such, reports to the Chinese government. They could easily sign in and export user data from systems THEY OWN running in the USA. Who could believe a program as stupid as this?!

Don't you believe it

[RitchCraft]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

Big companies in China

[ihxo]

you don't get to be a big company in China without being 100% in line with the CCP. The first sign you are not cooperating with the government, you'll end up like Jack Ma.

FeikFuk must be feeling some pressure. lol

[Eunomion]

Never understood the appeal, honestly. What did they do, hire a team of child psychologists to brainwash kids into thinking a bunch of googly-eyed deepfakes are fascinating?

Younger People

[Virtucon]

As a rule, younger people don't give a shit about their privacy. They're okay with fingerprinting, palm print, and face recognition. We need to somehow get more information available on the pitfalls of having your personal data so easily available and what it means to gov'ts that would abuse that data.

Transparency and Accountability Center.

[denny_deluxe]

Yet 'I was quickly told by a member of TikTok's PR team that the question wasn't appropriate for the tour.' Sure.