‘Chinese ByteDance employees no longer have access to the TikTok codebase’

ByteDance Chinese employees would no longer have access to TikTok’s codebase and other company apps for global use. The company is said to have taken that step to ease concerns about Chinese influence on its apps.

ByteDance is said to be setting up teams in every continent to keep up with code and do moderation, PingWest writes. ByteDance has not confirmed the information. Moderation had been localized in Europe for some time: people work in, for example, Berlin to review videos on TikTok in the Benelux. However, until now, Chinese developers were able to access the codebase of apps for other countries, including TikTok.

Denying employees in China access to TikTok’s codebase should ensure that Western governments have fewer problems with ByteDance’s apps. The move therefore fits in with a previously initiated policy of the company to separate its apps for China and those for other countries. There were already separate divisions for product development and marketing for TikTok and its Chinese counterpart Douyin.