TikTok had a 'list' of users who viewed LGBTQ posts — raising alarm as the company faces scrutiny over ties to China

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew leaves Congress on March 23, where he answered questions about how the company handles user data. Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

• TikTok users watching posts under LGBTQ categories were visible to employees, WSJ reports.
• A TikTok representative told the Journal the company cut off access to that kind of data last year.
• The Biden administration has looked to pressure TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance to sell its stakes.

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Employees of TikTok, the social media app facing scrutiny in the US for how its Chinese owners may wield user data, could reportedly see certain details about users looking at posts in categories including those with LGBTQ subjects. 

The employees had access to "a list" of users, or "a dashboard" which let them learn about users who watched certain types of posts, the Wall Street journal reported. Videos on Tiktok can be grouped by subjects and themes, among which are categories of LGBTQ posts, and employees were able to get information on users engaging with those subjects, according to the report.  

But the company ended that dashboard last year, a TikTok representative told the Journal. 

"Safeguarding the privacy and security of people who use TikTok is one of our top priorities," a representative for TikTok said in a statement to Insider. "TikTok does not identify individuals or infer sensitive information such as sexual orientation or race based on what they watch."

The data-gathering practices of tech and social media companies have routinely evoked privacy concerns, particularly over the past decade.

The rise of generative AI chatbots, for instance, has sparked questions about whether company employees can view users' conversation histories, and how long they're stored. Meanwhile, social media giant Meta has periodically responded to concerns over its handling of users' information, and agreed just last year to pay $725 million to settle litigation stemming from its Cambridge Analytica scandal.

TikTok, which has about 150 million users in the US according to the company, has faced pressure from Biden administration officials to separate its US arm from Chinese owners, the Wall Street Journal has previously reported. 

There's already some appetite in the US to curb users' access to the app. Last month, lawmakers in Montana passed a measure that would ban the app to users in the state, including from their personal phones. The move is expected to face legal challenges.  

And US government officials escalated pressure over China-based ByteDance's ownership of the app, TikTok's CEO Shou Zi Chew also testified before Congress in March. But his appearance seemed to garner him popularity among the app's users, who posted approving videos that seemed to confer a sort of celebrity status on the executive.