ByteDance employees ‘obtained journalists’ user data’

In brief

Bytedance, the parent company of TikTok, has fired four employees after they “improperly accessed” two journalists’ user data while investigating leaks of company information.

According to an email from ByteDance general counsel Erich Andersen seen by Reuters, the employees looked at IP addresses of a former BuzzFeed reporter and a Financial Times reporter to ascertain if they were in the same location as company employees suspected of leaking confidential information.

This comes as the platform comes under scrutiny by US lawmakers, who have called it “a national security threat”.