TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, has been facing scrutiny recently. According to a report from Fortune, a former employee named Evan Turner has claimed that the company tried to hide the involvement of ByteDance in his work. Turner stated that despite being assigned an American manager in Seattle, he was actually being managed by a Beijing-based ByteDance executive.
Turner, who worked as a senior data scientist at TikTok from April to September 2022, alleged that he never met his American manager and had weekly meetings with the Beijing executive to review his progress. He said that this management structure contradicted what TikTok executives had stated about the company operating independently from ByteDance.
In response to Turner’s claims, a TikTok spokesperson dismissed them as “completely unfounded assertions brought forth by disgruntled ex-employees” in a statement to Fortune. However, TikTok has not yet commented on the matter to Business Insider, and Turner was not available for comment to BI.
These claims come at a time when TikTok is facing potential legislation that could force ByteDance to sell the app to non-Chinese owners. The US House recently passed a bill proposing a ban on apps like TikTok, citing concerns about national security. TikTok has maintained that it operates independently from ByteDance and has tried to distance itself from its Chinese parent company.