The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation into allegations that TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, used TikTok to spy on U.S. journalists.

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday (17th) local time, citing sources, that the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and federal prosecutors in Virginia are investigating allegations that ByteDance used TikTok to spy on the location information of US journalists.

ByteDance announced in December last year that it had fired some of its employees after learning that TikTok had used TikTok to monitor the location information of journalists affiliated with BuzzFeed and the Financial Times (FT).

As the reporters continued to report on the revelations of ByteDance's insider information, some employees conducted such surveillance to see if they were in secret contact with ByteDance officials, ByteDance said at the time.

At the time, the company appeared to be responding aggressively, saying it had reorganized its internal audit and risk management departments and blocked the relevant departments' access to data.

ByteDance also strongly condemned the actions of the dismissed employees at the time, saying, "An internal investigation is still ongoing and we will cooperate once a formal investigation begins."

As the Justice Department and others begin a full-scale investigation into the incident, the pressure on TikTok seems to be increasing.

Currently, in the United States, the theory of security threats to TikTok is spreading, and even the "TikTok exit theory" is raising its head.

The U.S. government recently reportedly asked TikTok's Chinese founders to sell their stake in TikTok to U.S. capital, warning them that if they didn't, they could be banned from using TikTok in the U.S.

The Joe Biden administration has been criticized for not taking a strong stance on TikTok-related issues, and the analysis suggests that the hard-line response to TikTok has gained bipartisan support in the US political arena.

TikTok will explain these security threats at a hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 12.

The U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI, and Virginia prosecutors did not respond to media inquiries about the launch of the TikTok investigation.

(Photo = Getty Images Korea)