TikTok enquiry: French executives ‘do not know what to say’

[This article was modified at 17:53 to better reflect the nature of the debates.]
The French Senate questioned two French TikTok executives on Thursday (8 June) who repeatedly admitted that they were unable to answer the questions put to them, with the chairman of the inquiry saying this raises suspicions of dishonesty

Launched in March, The Committee of Inquiry was looking into using the TikTok social network, its exploitation of data and its strategy of influence to shed light on the app’s significant popularity in the country.

French minors spend an average of 107 minutes a day using the app. In addition, many states in North America and Europe have banned its use on the work devices of civil servants due to concerns over how data is used and processed.

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Links with the Chinese government

Claude Malhuret (Les Indépendants, république & territoire, centre-right), the rapporteur for the Commission of Inquiry, focused his questions on TikTok’s links with the Chinese government.

He recalled the legal structure of the company, which is ultimately owned by Xiamen Xingchen Qidian Technology (XXQT), run by a Chinese Communist Party executive leader from the city of Xiamen, where the current president Xi Jinping was mayor in the 1980s and 1990s.

Eric Garandeau, TikTok’s public affairs director in France, could not answer questions on this topic, stating they were “very far from [his] operational role”.

Malhuret then mentioned his surprise that the digital multinational company was registered in the French commercial register as a simplified company with a single shareholder, i.e. a company 100% lawfully detained by the entrepreneur Zhao Tian, who is also vice-president of the Chinese application Toutiao, a subsidiary of Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok).

Therefore, Tian, a Chinese-Canadian national according to the French Senate website, holds all the legal powers over TikTok France. However, since the Chinese government’s decision in 2019 to apply its laws extraterritorially, Malhuret explained that Tian, as a citizen of the People’s Republic of China, is required by law to fully cooperate in all areas set out by the Chinese government.

On this topic, Garandeau and Marlène Masure, TikTok’s Managing Director of Operations for France, Benelux and Southern Europe, swore that neither had “ever met Ms Zhao Tian”.

Garandeau sought to clarify the facts and said that in terms of the Group’s legal organisation, there was “total separation between TikTok and other entities operating in China”.

He then explained that ByteDance Limited was registered in the Cayman Islands, a “British territory”, he insisted, and “owned 100% of TikTok Limited”, which in turn owned numerous subsidiaries, including TikTok UK, the European parent company, which in particular owned the TikTok France subsidiary.

This remark did not satisfy the rapporteur, who pointed out that Douyin Limited was itself owned by the mysterious Chinese company XXQT.

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Protection of minors

Garandeau sought to demonstrate the application’s compliance with the protection of minors, noting access was prohibited for those under 13. Furthermore, he said it was impossible to access certain functions until the age of 15 (the age of digital majority), adding that access to instant messages was prohibited until 18.

Masure also said that TikTok’s algorithms proactively deleted accounts suspected of being opened by anyone under 13.

These assertions did not convince Malhuret, who referred to the obligation imposed on TikTok in August to be able to profile minors as part of the application of the EU’s Digital Services Act. He regretted that profiling is “virtually non-existent” today.

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Inconsistencies in rhetoric

Garandeau asserted that the Trust and Safety entity, based in Dublin and “staffed by 40,000 people who, for some of them, are also spread over other countries”, ensured the protection of users and their data. His colleague Masure, on the other hand, referred to “100,000 employees in Europe” but “1,000 to 1,500 in Dublin”.

Garandeau sought to reassure the audience that European regulations on data protection (RGPD) and illegal online content (DSA) would be complied with. He referred to a “data centre under construction” in Norway, saying that the technology would not be based on American clouds.

Masure contradicted him, saying that this data centre would undoubtedly be based on Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud solutions, all American products.

When questioned, Masure could not answer the questions of Senator André Gattolin (Rassemblements des démocrates et progressistes indépendants, centre), who asked her whether she was aware of the company’s plans.

In addition, Garandeau could not confirm that Chinese engineers had access to European users’ data, and therefore, following Malhuret’s reasoning, the obligation to “collaborate with the Chinese intelligence services”.

However, Masure did admit that to her knowledge, there has been a case of a Chinese engineer, “the only example I’ve had so far”, who intervened to fix a bug in the frame counter of a video.

Next steps

The Senate Inquiry is due to conclude on 8 September 2023 and might publish guidelines on regulating TikTok appropriately.

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