Those worried that TikTok is run top-down by Communist Party of China apparatchiks devoted to destroying the U.S. may be surprised to find out how many of the app’s employees are intelligence operatives ... of the United States!
Scouring LinkedIn, Alan Macleod at Mint Press News has uncovered a bevy of State Department, CIA, FBI, and other intelligence officials working in supervisory roles at TikTok. Here are some examples:
The company’s head of data public policy for Europe previously served for four years as the State Department’s director of internet public policy.
A State Department diplomat who then worked at the Department of Homeland Security was hired as a trust and safety program manager — putting her in a position to influence the availability of content and the algorithms that recommend it.
A recent product policy manager for trust and safety at TikTok came from a decade of work at the State Department, including serving as the political and military affairs manager for Iran.
A recruiting coordinator came to the job following her tenure at the State Department’s Office of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs and as a member of the U.S. Army Cyber Command.
