Fresh Report Reveals 300 TikTok, ByteDance Employees Worked For Chinese State Media

San Francisco: At least 300 employees of TikTok and its parent company ByteDance employees worked for the Chinese state media publications, and more than a dozen still do, the media reported.Also Read – TikTok Plans Own Music Streaming Service, ByteDance to Launch ‘TikTok Music’ Soon

LinkedIn profiles of ByteDance and TikTok employees showed them in current roles as content partnerships, strategy, policy, public affairs, monetisation and ‘media cooperation’, reports Forbes. Also Read – TikTok Begins Firing Employees Worldwide As Part Of Re-Organisation Effort. Here’s What Firm Says

Profiles of 15 current ByteDance employees revealed they worked at the tech firm and state media outlets simultaneously. Also Read – TikTok Probing Claims of Aggressive Work Culture After Executive’s Controversial ‘Maternity Leave’ Remark

“Fifteen indicate that current ByteDance employees are also concurrently employed by Chinese state media entities, including Xinhua News Agency, China Radio International and China Central/China Global Television,” the report said late on Thursday.

The LinkedIn profiles reviewed by Forbes “reveal significant connections between TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, and the propaganda arm of the Chinese government, which has been investing heavily in using social media to amplify disinformation that serves the Chinese Communist Party”.

According to the report, ByteDance and TikTok did not contest that the 300 LinkedIn profiles represent current employees or deny their connections to Chinese state media.

A spokesperson for ByteDance said that the company makes “hiring decisions based purely on an individual’s professional capability to do the job”.

“For our China-market businesses, that includes people who have previously worked in government or state media positions in China. Outside of China, employees also bring experience in government, public policy, and media organisations from dozens of markets,” the company said.

(With inputs from IANS)