TikTok Refutes Tharoor’s Claim On ‘Stealth Data’ To China

Chinese video-making app TikTok has refuted Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s claim in parliament that it was illegally sending user data to China.

Tharoor had claimed on Monday that the Chinese government was receiving these “illegally transferred” data via a China state-owned telecom company and cited a recent fine of $5.7 million imposed in the US for collecting data on children illegally.

On Tuesday, however, TikTok said the allegations were “simply untrue”.

TikTok, which has around 200 million users in India, informed that Indian users’ data was stored in US and Singapore data centres. “The privacy and security of our users is a top priority for TikTok, and we abide by local laws and regulations in the markets where we operate,” a company statement said.

It also clarified that TikTok didn’t operate in mainland China and “the (Chinese) government has no access to TikTok users’ data, nor does it have any existing partnership with China Telecom”.