A former head of engineering at Bytedance in the US has mentioned the corporate discharged him after he voiced concern to administration that it was taking person content material from different platforms, primarily Instagram and Snapchat. Additionally Learn – Last nail within the coffin for TikTok in India? ByteDance fires total India employees

The dispute comes at a time when ByteDance-owned app TikTok faces rising requires a nationwide ban from some US lawmakers concerning considerations about potential Chinese language authorities affect over it. Additionally Learn – Instagram co-founders announce Artifact, a TikTok-like app for textual content

Yintao “Roger” Yu mentioned in a grievance filed on Friday in San Francisco state court docket that the Chinese language tech firm engaged in a “worldwide scheme to steal and revenue from the content material of others” with out looking for permission.

When Yu raised these considerations to greater administration, he mentioned they dismissed them and requested him to cover the unlawful program, particularly from staff in the US, because it had stricter IP legal guidelines and sophistication actions.

He was later dismissed by ByteDance in November 2018.

He’s looking for a court docket order that may prohibit ByteDance from scraping content material from different social media platforms.

In response to the grievance, ByteDance mentioned, “We plan to vigorously oppose what we imagine are baseless claims and allegations. Mr. Yu labored for ByteDance for lower than a 12 months.”

ByteDance additionally responded to the scraping allegations, saying it acquired knowledge consistent with business follow and its international coverage.
In April, Montana lawmakers handed a invoice to ban its short-form TikTok app from working within the state.

In March, U.S. lawmakers questioned TikTok’s Chief Govt Shou Zi Chew about potential Chinese language affect, saying its quick movies have been damaging youngsters’s psychological well being, reflecting bipartisan considerations concerning the app’s energy over People.

— Reuters