Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge
An internal investigation at ByteDance found that several employees accessed TikTok data for two US journalists and a “small number” of other people connected to them, according to internal emails obtained by The New York Times. That data reportedly included the reporters’ IP addresses, which were used to see if they had been nearby ByteDance employees in an attempt to figure out who was leaking documents and information to the press.
The report is the latest in a series of investigations that have turned up evidence of ByteDance employees in China having access to American TikTok users’ data and is coming out during a time when lawmakers are making moves to restrict the app. It also represents ByteDance walking back denials that it’s…
