Go read this report on ByteDance employees with ties to Chinese state media

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

More than a dozen employees at ByteDance are still working for Chinese state media outlets, according to Forbes.

300 people have previously worked for state media entities, with current roles at the tech firm including content partnerships, strategy, policy, monetization, and "media cooperation."

Forbes suggested that the ByteDance employees work at both the tech firm and the state media outlets at the same time. Employees contacted by Forbes didn't respond, it's possible they neglected to update their profiles The overlap between state media and ByteDance employees is well known.

ByteDance didn't contest that the 300 employees worked at the company or that they were associated with state media outlets, according to Forbes. Banks told Forbes that hiring is done solely on an individual's professional capabilities.

People who have worked in government or state media in China are included in our China- market businesses. Government, public policy, and media organizations can be found in dozens of markets outside of China.

ByteDance doesn't allow employees to hold second or part-time jobs, or any outside business activity, that would cause a conflict of interest, according to Banks.

Concerns have been raised that the platform's ties to China pose a national security risk. Forbes has something to say.

People spend more time on TikTok today than they do on any other app. In recent months, the app has been hailed as a powerful driver of American culture, and has rapidly emerged as a critical player in our electoral and civic discourse. The LinkedIn profiles raise further concerns that China could use TikTok’s broad cultural influence in the US for its own ends, a fear that led a cohort of US politicians, including former president Donald Trump, to call for a ban on the app in 2019.

The profiles also provide critical insight into how ByteDance manages its relationship with Chinese state media entities. In addition to TikTok, ByteDance runs numerous other websites and services, including two of mainland China’s most popular apps: Douyin (a short-form video app) and Toutiao (a news aggregator). Chinese state media entities are among the most popular accounts on Douyin, where they have many millions of followers. Many of the LinkedIn profiles detail work on Toutiao and Douyin, which must comply with stringent Chinese censorship laws.

A lot of reports in recent months detail how TikTok is connected with ByteDance, a Chinese company. The data of US TikTok users was accessed by employees in China. The lengths that TikTok goes to distance itself from ByteDance were shown in a Gizmodo story.

Going from state media publications to working at ByteDance might be a typical career path, according to a Forbes story. For a company already under close scrutiny for its ties to foreign governments, the extra connections through employees are likely to raise questions.

The Forbes story can be read here.