The centre aims to answer basic questions about TikTok’s inner workings for politicians, regulators, data privacy experts and journalists.
The opening of the Transparency and Accountability Centre comes amid calls by U.S. lawmakers to ban the app on national security grounds. The latest coming from Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.), who in a letter to the CEOs of Apple and Google demanded that it be removed from their companies’ app stores.
Policymakers and security experts are concerned about TikTok’s ownership by a Chinese company, ByteDance, and whether that connection could mean the government could access users’ data or influence the videos they see on their feeds.
Company’s executives have assured regulators that TikTok is implementing strict security protocols, but that trust has been eroded by a number of high-profile scandals. For example, in December 2022, ByteDance confirmed that employees of the social network had been tracking multiple American journalists covering the company, improperly gaining access to their IP addresses and user data.
At the Transparency Centre in Los Angeles, visitors can learn how TikTok protects users' privacy and data, take a short training session for moderators, and try to assess content for rules violations. You can also enter the TikTok server room after signing a nondisclosure agreement.
The company says it hopes that policymakers, civil society members, academic experts, members of the media and other industry leaders will visit the centers and come away with a deeper understanding of TikTok’s data privacy and moderation processes. But visits are by appointment only and must be coordinated with TikTok representatives.
Journalists who visited the centre noted the reluctance of employees to emphasize the social network's ties to China or even mention the name of the parent company Bytedance.
“There’s one big reason we were all at TikTok’s offices: China. But Pappas [TikTok COO Vanessa Pappas] and the company’s other leaders never actually said “China” in their on-the-record remarks,”
noted Vox journalist.
“One name that wasn’t uttered during the entire briefing: ByteDance. I got the impression that TikTok employees felt uncomfortable talking about their relationship with their parent company,”
said The Verge correspondent.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is set to testify before Congress in March about privacy concerns and the platform’s effect on mental health.
TikTok announced the creation of transparency centres in Los Angeles, D.C. and Singapore in 2020, just before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. But they remained closed to visitors until Tuesday, Jan.31, when the Los Angeles centre offered a tour to journalists.
Sources: SCMP, The Washington Post
