ByteDance—ByteDance employees used TikTok to track journalists' locations via IP addresses
In December 2022, ByteDance confirmed employees used TikTok to track the location of journalists reporting critically on the company through their IP addresses. ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo said the misconduct 'significantly undermined' public trust. The company fired four employees including chief internal auditor Chris Lepitak, while executive Song Ye resigned. The DOJ opened a criminal investigation led by the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press Freedom | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| User Privacy | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.664 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)
Evidence (1 signal)
ByteDance employees used TikTok to track journalists' locations via IP addresses
In December 2022, ByteDance confirmed employees used TikTok to track the location of journalists reporting critically on the company through their IP addresses. ByteDance CEO Liang Rubo said the misconduct 'significantly undermined' public trust. The company fired four employees including chief internal auditor Chris Lepitak, while executive Song Ye resigned. The DOJ opened a criminal investigation led by the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.