TikTok and Forbes are having an issue after the American magazine published a report.
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The ByteDance logo is seen on the ByteDance headquarters building in Beijing on July 8, 2020. - Video sharing app TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, announced on July 6 it was pulling out of Hong Kong, less than a week after a new national security law went into effect.
The article, which was posted on Thursday, Oct. 20, claims that ByteDance planned to use the social media app to track users' physical location of U.S. residents.
Forbes wrote the article titled "TikTok Parent ByteDance Planned To Use TikTok To Monitor The Physical Location Of Specific American Citizens."
Because of its title and the actual content, TikTok decided to defend itself, posting a series of tweets to negate Forbes' claims.
TikTok Vs. Forbes: App Denies US Data Tracking Accusation
According to The Verge's latest report, TikTok explained why Forbes' report is incorrect.
(Photo : Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
A young man holding a smartphone casts a shadow as he walks past an advertisement for social media company TikTok on September 21, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. U.S. President Donald Trump has given preliminary approval for Oracle, Walmart and other investors to take over TikTok and create a new U.S.-based company called TikTok Global.
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The social media giant stated that the publishing company left out an important part of its statement, which is specifically the one below:
- "TikTok does not collect precise GPS location information from US users."
In the actual article, Forbes said that ByteDance's Internal Audit team planned to track at least two U.S.-based users who had never worked for an app company.
Forbes explained that its report was based on other materials it reviewed.
However, the American magazine didn't provide any explanation regarding why ByteDance allegedly wanted to track U.S. residents.
TikTok's Statements Against Forbes
The Guardian reported how TikTok criticized the American publishing firm's integrity.
"@Forbes' reporting about TikTok continues to lack both rigor and journalistic integrity," said the social media giant via its official Twitter account.
On the other hand, TikTok clarified that the app was never used to target any members of the U.S. government. The app further explained that American journalists, activists, and public figures were never tracked.
Aside from this, TikTok also explained that it never gave any special treatment to high-profile users. You can check the official Twitter thread below to see further details.
1/ @Forbes' reporting about TikTok continues to lack both rigor and journalistic integrity. https://t.co/HYF16KezqS
— TikTokComms (@TikTokComms) October 20, 2022
In other stories, TikTok's enhanced editing tools were launched.
Meanwhile, new TikTok features for adjusting videos were also released.
For more news updates about TikTok and other social media apps, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.
Related Article: TikTok Launches Profile Kit, New Feature That Allows Users to Highlight their Videos through Linktree
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Written by Griffin Davis
