Report: TikTok Developed PR Strategy to ‘Downplay the China Association’

According to recently leaked internal TikTok documents, the company has been developing PR strategies to respond to criticisms of its links to China, including the fact that it is owned by Chinese company ByteDance.

Gizmodo reports that according to recently leaked documents, TikTok has been attempting to develop strategies to deal with its biggest public perception issue — its close links to China. The PR documents are titled “TikTok Master Messaging” and “TikTok Key Messages,” and outline press talking points in English and another European language. The larger document is the 53-page TikTok Master Messaging document which outlines key messages that the company wants to make public.

Near the top of the list for messaging priorities for TikTok is “Downplay the parent company ByteDance, downplay the China association, downplay AI.” Later in the document, the company advised employees that although young people love TikTok, “the app is only for users aged 13 and over.”

The language used in the documents is similar to the content of a TikTok executive’s testimony before the United Kingdom’s parliament and the company’s letters to United States senators. The link to China is reportedly a known issue for TikTok’s PR team and it is mentioned frequently in both documents.

In the 15-page TikTok Key Messages document, the company’s public relations department provides soundbites to address questions about “China/Bytedance Ownership.” Gizmodo reports that some of the soundbites include:

• “There’s a lot of misinformation about TikTok right now. The reality is that the TikTok app isn’t even available in China.” TikTok used this talking point when responding to the BBC.
• “We have not and will not share user data with the Chinese government, and would not do so if asked.” TikTok used this one in response to BuzzFeed News.
• “We have a number of measures in place to significantly reduce access to user data, and we continue to build those out.” TikTok published this talking point on its own blog.

Despite the company’s PR strategy, the links between TikTok’s American operations and its Chinese parent company are very clear. The company recently admitted that employees in China can access the user data of Americans.

As Breitbart News reported:

The CEO of TikTok parent company ByteDance, Shou Zi Chew, said in a June 30 letter that China-based employees who clear a number of internal security protocols can access certain information on U.S.-based TikTok users including public videos and comments. Chew claims that none of this information is shared with the Chinese government and is subject to “robust cybersecurity controls.”

The company claims that it is working on strengthening data security around sensitive information, including any that is defined as “protected” by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS). This new cybersecurity effort is called “Project Texas” and includes physically storing U.S. information in data centers on U.S. servers owned by Oracle Corp.

“TikTok’s response confirms our fears about the CCP’s influence in the company were well founded,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) told Bloomberg on Friday. “The Chinese-run company should have come clean from the start, but it attempted to shroud its work in secrecy. Americans need to know if they are on TikTok, Communist China has their information.”

Read more about the contents of the documents at Gizmodo here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan