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TikTok’s Parent Company Under FBI Investigation

Forbes reports this week that the FBI and Department of Justice have been investigating TikTok’s parent company, Chinese-owned ByteDance.

ByteDance has been told by the Biden administration that it must divest itself of TikTok by selling it’s stake in the app, or face a ban.

The app has come under intense scrutiny for a variety of national surveillance risks, and ByteDance admitted in December that four employees used location data to spy on the whereabouts of two journalists.

ByteDance, however, says the company is not at fault, blasting the employees who violated user privacy. A spokesperson said, “We have strongly condemned the actions of the individuals found to have been involved, and they are no longer employed at ByteDance. Our internal investigation is still ongoing, and we will cooperate with any official investigations when brought to us.”

The dueling investigations signal trouble for the company, who is under increasing pressure to sell its part in TikTok.