Emily Baker-White
Forbes, Nov. 28, 2022
“At this time, TikTok has failed to provide the requested information, documents, and communications,” he said in an email. TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan confirmed that TikTok received Rep. Comer’s request and said the company plans to respond.”
In fall 2021, members of ByteDance’s internal audit and risk control team prepared an urgent message for executives: Change your approach to fraud prevention — soon — or you could end up in jail.
The message came in the form of a standard Fraud Risk Assessment, reviewed by Forbes, which was based on a review of TikTok and ByteDance policies, and on approximately 90 interviews — some educational and others investigatory — with TikTok and ByteDance employees from at least 17 different teams.
In its executive summary, the document laid out the stakes: “Unless ByteDance makes substantial, sustained, and rapid investments in its anti-fraud programs, it will likely be too late to prevent immense future fraud-related losses and liabilities — potentially including multi-billion dollar fines ($USD), being forced to submit to the control of an external monitor, loss of the ability to operate in the U.S. and other major markets, and criminal indictments of ByteDance executives and managers (even if they did not actively participate in misconduct).” … [To read the full article, click here]