Justice Department says TikTok has collected the opinions of American users on issues such as abortion and gun control

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a fresh look at one of the world’s most popular tech companies, the Justice Department late Friday accused TikTok of exploiting its ability to collect bulk information about users based on views on divisive social issues such as gun control, abortion and religion.

Government lawyers wrote in documents filed with the federal appeals court in Washington that TikTok and its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance used an internal web suite system called Lark to allow TikTok employees to speak directly to ByteDance engineers in China.

TikTok employees used Lark to transmit sensitive data about U.S. users, information that was ultimately stored on Chinese servers and accessed by ByteDance employees in China, federal officials said.

One of Lark’s internal search tools, the filing said, allows employees of ByteDance and TikTok in the U.S. and China to collect information about users’ content or expressions, including opinions on sensitive topics such as abortion or religion. Last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that TikTok had been tracking users who viewed LGBTQ content through a dashboard that the company said it had since removed.

The new court documents represent the government’s first major defense in an ensuing legal battle over the future of the popular social media platform, used by more than 170 million Americans. Under a law signed by President Joe Biden in April, the company could face a ban within months if it does not cut ties with ByteDance.

The measure passed with bipartisan support after lawmakers and government officials raised concerns that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data or sway public opinion toward Beijing’s interests by manipulating the algorithm that runs fills users’ feeds.

The Justice Department warned in stark terms about the possibility of what it called “covert content manipulation” by the Chinese government, saying the algorithm could be designed to shape the content users receive.

“For example, by directing ByteDance or TikTok to covertly manipulate that algorithm, China could further its existing malign influence operations and amplify its efforts to undermine confidence in our democracy and exacerbate social divisions,” the letter states.

The concerns are more than theoretical, according to the Justice Department, claiming that employees of TikTok and ByteDance are engaging in a practice called “warming,” in which certain videos are promoted to gain a certain number of views. While this capability allows TikTok to curate popular content and distribute it more widely, U.S. officials say it could also be used for nefarious purposes.

Federal officials are asking the court to allow a secret version of the legal brief, which will not be accessible to the two companies.

Nothing in the redacted letter “changes the fact that the Constitution is on our side,” TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said in a statement.

“The TikTok ban would silence the voices of 170 million Americans, violating the First Amendment,” Haurek said. “As we have said before, the administration has never provided evidence to support its claims, even when Congress passed this unconstitutional law. Today, the government is once again taking this unprecedented step, while hiding behind classified information. We remain confident that we will win in court.”

In the redacted version of the court documents, the Justice Department said another tool caused the suppression of content based on the use of certain words. Some of the tool’s policies applied to ByteDance users in China, where the company operates a similar app called Douyin, which follows Beijing’s strict censorship rules.

But Justice Department officials said different policies may have been applied to TikTok users outside China. TikTok was investigating the existence of this policy and whether it had ever been implemented in the US in or around 2022, officials said.

The government points to Lark’s data transfers to explain why federal officials don’t believe Project Texas, TikTok’s $1.5 billion mitigation plan to store U.S. user data on servers owned and maintained by tech giant Oracle, sufficient to protect against national security concerns.

In its legal challenge to the law, TikTok has leaned heavily on arguments that the potential ban violates the First Amendment because it prohibits the app from speaking further unless it brings in a new owner through a complex divestiture process. It has also argued that divestiture would change the discourse on the platform, because a new social platform would lack the algorithm that drove its success.

In its response, the Justice Department argued that TikTok has not made valid free speech claims. It argues that the law addresses national security concerns without targeting protected speech, and argues that China and ByteDance, as foreign entities, are not protected by the First Amendment.

TikTok has also argued that US law discriminates against viewpoints, citing statements by some lawmakers who were critical of what they saw as an anti-Israel side of the platform during the Gaza war.

Justice Department officials dispute that argument, saying the law in question reflects their ongoing concern that China could use technology against U.S. national security. A fear they say is exacerbated by demands that companies under Beijing’s control hand over sensitive data to the government. They say TikTok, under its current operational structure, must respond to these demands.

Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for September.