Nearly a year after TikTok’s American operations were separated from Chinese parent company ByteDance, the social media giant continues relying on Chinese-developed technology and maintaining close operational ties with its former owner, raising questions about whether the deal adequately addresses national security concerns.
According to a Politico investigation, TikTok USDS Joint Venture, established in January 2026, still uses ByteDance’s internal messaging platform, Lark, and an artificial intelligence assistant called Aime, also developed by the Chinese company.
The continued reliance on ByteDance technology comes despite a 2024 congressional mandate requiring TikTok’s divestiture over concerns about American user data and potential Chinese Communist Party influence.
“There is a necessity to be able to speak to our global colleagues, but I can think of a thousand different ways we would be able to do that that wouldn’t necessarily violate at least the spirit of this agreement,” one employee told Politico.
The Justice Department previously alleged in a 2024 legal filing that TikTok employees transmitted significant amounts of restricted American user data through Lark. ByteDance has denied allegations of improper ties to the Chinese government.
The separation has also created unusual workplace restrictions. American employees reportedly must be escorted when visiting TikTok’s global offices on other floors and cannot bring laptops into those areas.
Despite those barriers, an internal company communication emphasized maintaining consistency with TikTok’s international operations.
“Our core principle remains to stay as aligned with global standards as possible, to preserve the global experience,” the message stated.
TikTok says its American entity now controls content policy enforcement and will retrain its recommendation algorithm using U.S. user data stored in Oracle’s American cloud infrastructure.
However, questions remain about whether ByteDance continues maintaining the algorithm or providing technical support.
The platform, used by approximately 200 million Americans, also faces mounting legal scrutiny. In August, TikTok agreed to a $400 million settlement with the Justice Department over children’s privacy allegations, while Pennsylvania filed a separate lawsuit challenging the platform’s allegedly addictive design.
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Written by staff reporters at American Greatness.
