Border Patrol agents have asked employees traveling to the U.S., many of whom are Chinese, about their access to sensitive American data and whether they are members of the Chinese Communist Party.
By Emily Baker-White, Forbes Staff
For the past several years, TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, have been under scrutiny with U.S. regulators who have feared that the app could give the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ data or influence over the information we consume.
In multiple hearings, lawmakers have interrogated executives about whether they employ members of the CCP, and if so, what power those people have over decision-making at the company. At one hearing in January, Senator Tom Cotton repeatedly pressed TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on whether he had been a member of the CCP — despite repeated replies from Mr. Chew (who lives in Singapore and is married to an American) that he is Singaporean.
Now, Forbes has learned from sources in a position to know and materials that more than 30 TikTok employees entering the U.S. have been stopped at the border and faced similar questioning from Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
According to the sources, many of these employees are Chinese and are employed across ByteDance and TikTok in a variety of capacities, including in data engineering and machine learning. The questions that CBP agents have asked employees have focused on the relationship between TikTok and ByteDance and the companies’ billion-dollar effort to wall off private information about American TikTok users from Chinese employees, known internally as Project Texas. CBP agents have asked the employees about their access to U.S. TikTok users’ data, where the company’s U.S. data centers are, and what their involvement is with Project Texas.
Employees have also been questioned about personal matters, like whether they are members of the Chinese Communist Party, as well as their schooling and political connections in China. One source in a position to know told Forbes that agents use a dedicated, printed list of questions to interrogate the employees.
The interrogations of TikTok employees come alongside an increase in CBP questioning of Chinese students and academics — especially those working in the sciences — at U.S. borders, a signal of increasing fear of technological espionage from China. The students and researchers have also been asked about their academic work and connections to the Chinese Communist Party.
TikTok’s efforts to prevent China-based employees from accessing American user data have been ongoing for years, but the company has repeatedly overpromised about just how secure that data has been. In summer 2022, BuzzFeed News reported that U.S. user data was still widely available to employees in China, raising concerns that the Chinese government could force them to share it with them (even against their will). Months later, Forbes learned that a China-based team had planned to use the TikTok app to surveil American citizens. The company launched an internal investigation, in which it found that the team had tracked the location of journalists, including this reporter, in an effort to ferret out their sources.
Despite this breach, TikTok and ByteDance continued to insist that U.S. user data was secure. But Forbes reporting showed that information including creators’ and advertisers’ bank information and social security numbers were stored in China, despite congressional testimony from TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in March 2023 that “American data has always been stored in Virginia and Singapore in the past.” Following Forbes reporting about the data storage, Senate leaders questioned TikTok about the “incorrect claims.”
Last week, President Biden took a historic step, signing a law that could result in a ban on TikTok — which would mark the first time the U.S. government has banned a major app or internet service. The law will require Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores in 270 days, unless ByteDance has sold its interest in the app’s U.S. operations by that time (or the courts block the law from going into effect). The measure was part of a $95 billion omnibus foreign aid package that will also send military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
TikTok and ByteDance have vowed to challenge the divestment bill in court. But in the meantime, they are facing multiple other legal challenges from the U.S. government. The Department of Justice opened a criminal probe against ByteDance in 2023 after the company admitted to using TikTok to surveil American citizens. Moreover, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has been investigating ByteDance and its acquisition of Musical.ly, the app that ultimately became TikTok, since 2019. Last year, CFIUS took the position that has now become law: that ByteDance should divest from TikTok, or the app should be banned.
These ongoing cases may offer clues as to how and why Customs and Border Protection agents are questioning employees. CBP interviews are often used to collect information about people and companies under government investigation, and CBP is also part of the Department of Homeland Security, whose head is a member of the 9-member CFIUS committee.
A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection said in a statement: “CBP is tasked with protecting our nation’s borders as well as enforcing numerous laws at our nation’s ports of entry on behalf of a variety of other government agencies, including state and local law enforcement. All international travelers attempting to enter the United States, including all U.S. citizens, are subject to examination.”
Meanwhile, foreign TikTok and ByteDance employees are finding it harder to travel to the U.S. for work. A fall revamp of the company’s internal policies now limits all work trips to the U.S. to 30 days, according to internal materials reviewed by Forbes.
TikTok did not respond to a comment request.
