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How TikTok’s Chinese owner tightened its grip on the app 据内部人士透露，尽管美国不断就TikTok所有权的问题施压，但字节跳动收紧了对该短视频应用的控制。
Insiders say ByteDance exerting increasing influence over platform despite US pressure over ownership. 6park.com
据TikTok内部人士透露，过去两年，尽管华盛顿方面封禁该短视频应用的势头日益增强，但其中国所有者字节跳动(ByteDance)收紧了对这一美国业务的控制。
TikTok’s Beijing-based owner ByteDance tightened its grip over its US operations over the past two years, according to company insiders, even as momentum to ban the short-video app grew in Washington. 6park.com
6park.comThe US government passed legislation this week aimed at forcing TikTok to divest from its parent or face a countrywide ban, but prising the viral video app from its $268bn parent company would present a formidable challenge. 6park.com美国政府本周通过一项立法，旨在迫使其母公司字节跳动剥离TikTok，否则TikTok将被全美封禁，但将这款火爆视频应用从其估值2680亿美元的母公司手中剥离将是一项艰巨的挑战。
6park.comMore than two dozen current and former employees told the Financial Times that TikTok has only become more deeply interwoven with ByteDance as tensions over the app’s ownership escalated. 6park.com二十多名现任和前任员工向英国《金融时报》表示，随着围绕TikTok所有权的紧张局势升级，TikTok只是更紧密地与字节跳动交织在一起了。
6park.comThese people said that ByteDance staff, including senior managers, had been transferred to TikTok; workers based in the US who spoke Mandarin were favoured for their ability to co-ordinate with Chinese counterparts; and restructuring efforts had targeted US-based workers who did not meet exacting performance standards. 6park.com这些人士表示，包括高管在内的字节跳动员工已被调往TikTok；会说普通话的美国员工因能与中国同事协同工作而受到青睐；重组工作针对的是那些没有达到严格绩效标准的美国员工。
6park.com“There’s this sort of veneer or facade that these two companies are separate,” said Joël Carter, a former US ads policy manager who left in August 2023. “Really, they’re one and the same.” 6park.com“这两家公司表面看起来是独立的，”于2023年8月离职的前美国广告政策经理若埃尔•卡特(Joël Carter)说，“事实上，它们是同一家公司。” 6park.com 6park.comTen current and former employees said the number of Chinese staff had been increasing inside TikTok over the past two years, with ByteDance transferring workers from China to other global offices, including in the US. 6park.com10名现任和前任员工表示，过去两年，TikTok的中国员工数量一直在增加，字节跳动将员工从中国调往包括美国在内的其他全球办事处。
6park.comThis has included senior leaders. Last year, ByteDance moved Qing Lan from Douyin, its Chinese version of the short video app, to head up TikTok’s small and medium-sized business advertising arm in the US, an appointment first reported by the Wall Street Journal. 6park.com其中包括高层领导人。去年，字节跳动将Qing Lan从抖音调至美国，负责TikTok在美国的中小企业广告部门。这一任命最早由《华尔街日报》(Wall Street Journal)报道。
6park.comThe insiders mostly spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation by the company, which can claw back bonuses and stock awards if staffers breach non-disparagement rules, according to documents seen by the FT. 6park.com由于担心遭到公司报复，这些内部人士大多要求匿名。根据英国《金融时报》看到的文件，如果员工违反非贬低条款，公司可以收回奖金和股票奖励。
6park.comThese claims come after TikTok executives at one point insisted under oath that it was a “distributed” company with no official global headquarters. Its website suggests TikTok’s headquarters are in Los Angeles and Singapore, with no offices in China, and that decisions are not made in Beijing. 6park.com此前，TikTok高管一度誓言坚称该公司是一家“分布式”公司，没有正式的全球总部。该公司网站显示，TikTok总部位于洛杉矶和新加坡，在中国没有办事处，决策也不在北京做出。
6park.comIn a statement, TikTok said: “Like any global company, we have employees around the world and employees move around over the course of their career to meet business needs. This is neither a recent development, nor is it unique to TikTok.” 6park.comTikTok在一份声明中说：“和任何一家全球性企业一样，我们在世界各地都有员工，员工在TikTok工作期间会根据业务需求四处调动。这既不是最近才出现的情况，也不是TikTok特有的情况。” 6park.com 6park.comIt added: “The premise and the statements in this story are flawed and based on anonymous sources who are spreading falsehoods in pursuit of a personal agenda. Any journalist would know this has failed the journalistic standard of putting forward actual facts.” 6park.com声明还说：“这个叙事的前提和陈述是错误的，是基于为了个人目的而散布谎言的匿名消息来源。所有记者都知道，这不符合报道真实事实的新闻标准。” 6park.com 6park.comThe company has vowed to mount a legal battle against the US legislation while the Chinese government has said it would oppose a sale. 6park.com该公司誓言对美国这项立法发起法律战，而中国政府则表示将反对出售。
6park.comAny divestment will be difficult. Documents from 2023 seen by the FT show ByteDance staff based in China on teams such as safety product operations reporting directly to US-based leaders and some global staff reporting directly to China-based bosses. 6park.com剥离将非常困难。根据英国《金融时报》看到的2023年文件，字节跳动在中国的安全产品运营等团队的员工直接向在美国的领导汇报，一些全球员工直接向在中国的老板汇报。
6park.com“They are overriding our local decisions [and] demoting American leadership,” said one current senior US employee. 6park.com一名现任美国高级员工说：“他们凌驾于我们的本地决策之上，（并）将美国领导层降级。” 6park.com 6park.comSeveral US employees said colleagues who worked on product management and did not speak Mandarin said they were often at a disadvantage because the role required close co-ordination with engineers in China. 6park.com多名美国员工表示，不会说普通话的产品管理岗同事表示自己往往处于劣势，因为这个职位需要与中国的工程师密切协调。
6park.comThey added that this was not an issue for some roles such as advertising sales. Two current insiders said they had been told to prioritise hiring Chinese or Mandarin-speaking staff in the US. 6park.com他们补充说，这对广告销售等岗位来说不是问题。两名在职内部人士表示，他们被告知在美国招人时要优先招华人或会说普通话的。
6park.comMany US workers complained of long work hours and an opaque performance review system in which they allege leaders manipulate employees’ assessments in order to meet preset targets and facilitate restructurings. 6park.com许多美国员工抱怨工作时间过长，以及绩效评估制度不透明。他们称，在这种制度下，领导者操纵对员工的评估，以实现预设目标，并促进重组。
6park.comThe moves are in part because ByteDance executives believe that TikTok is not performing as effectively as its Chinese operations, suggesting American employees have a lower output than counterparts in China, according to one senior person familiar with the leadership’s thinking. 6park.com据一位了解领导层想法的资深人士透露，这些举措的部分原因是，字节跳动的高管认为，TikTok的工作表现不如该公司的中国业务高效，反映出美国员工的工作产出不如中国员工。
6park.comThe push came as ByteDance was moving towards a blockbuster initial public offering, seeking to impress investors with TikTok’s explosive growth. TikTok hit a record $16bn in sales in the US in 2023, the FT reported last month. 6park.com当时，字节跳动正在推进一次重磅首次公开发行(IPO)，希望用TikTok的爆炸式增长给投资者留下深刻印象。据英国《金融时报》上月报道，TikTok 2023年在美国的销售额达到创纪录的160亿美元。
6park.comBut across congressional hearings, TikTok executives were grilled by US politicians who alleged that the Chinese Communist party could access the data of the app’s 170mn American users for espionage purposes under national intelligence laws, or proliferate propaganda or election interference. 6park.com但在国会听证会上，TikTok高管受到了美国政界人士的盘问，他们声称，根据中国的国家情报法，中共可以出于情报目的访问该应用1.7亿美国用户的数据，也可以利用该应用进行宣传或干预选举。
6park.comIn January, TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew insisted US user data had been moved “out of reach” from China to a firewalled cloud structure built in a $1.5bn partnership with Oracle, known as “Project Texas”. 6park.com今年1月，TikTok首席执行官周受资(Shou Zi Chew)坚称，美国用户数据已转移到一个受到防火墙保护的云架构上，中国方面将“无法触及”。该架构是TikTok斥资15亿美元与甲骨文(Oracle)合作搭建的，被称为“得克萨斯计划”(Project Texas)。
6park.comMany current and former TikTok workers point to other instances, however, in which the company continues to take direction from ByteDance. 6park.com然而，许多TikTok的现任和前任员工都给出了情况不是这样的例子，表明该公司继续从字节跳动那里获得指引。
6park.comBasic processes such as signing off of music used for adverts or addressing technical glitches have required co-ordination with counterparts in China, several people said. 6park.com多名知情人士表示，批准用于广告的音乐或解决技术故障之类的一些基本流程，都需要与中国那边对应的业务人员进行协调。
6park.comPolicy and content moderation decisions have been a flashpoint. According to three former staff members familiar with the matter, TikTok’s trust and safety team has previously been at loggerheads with staff in China over content featuring the popular dance move twerking. 6park.com政策和内容审核决定一直是容易引发争执的点。据三名熟悉此事的前员工称，TikTok的信任和安全团队此前曾因为流行的电臀舞(twerking)相关内容与中国那边的业务人员争执不下。
6park.comChinese leaders have deemed twerking too sexually suggestive, demanding it be taken down or rendered harder to find, the people said, while their US counterparts have repeatedly pushed back. 6park.com上述知情人士说，中国那边的业务负责人认为电臀舞具有过于明显的性暗示意味，要求将这些内容撤下或限流，而美国方面的业务负责人则一再反对。
6park.comTikTok said ByteDance staff in China were not involved in trust and safety decisions, which were handled out of the US and Ireland. 6park.comTikTok表示，在中国的字节跳动员工不参与信任与安全决策，这些决策在美国和爱尔兰做出。
6park.comInternal systems — such as for staff to communicate, collaborate or access employment information — are hosted in China, TikTok insiders said. But they said the software could also track employee locations through their IP addresses and other biometric data. 6park.comTikTok内部人员表示，内部系统——例如用于员工沟通、合作或获取聘用信息的系统——都位于中国。但他们表示，该软件也可以通过IP地址和其他生物识别数据来追踪员工的位置。
6park.comThe company has also had complaints that it is hostile to women and minorities and been hit by a number of discrimination-related lawsuits and complaints in recent months. 6park.com该公司还曾收到投诉称其对女性和少数族裔有敌意，而且最近数月遭遇了不少关于歧视的诉讼和投诉。
6park.comThis includes one from Carter, who has alleged he was retaliated against by TikTok after complaining of racial discrimination in a filing with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. TikTok has previously said that it takes “employee concerns very seriously, and [has] strong policies in place that prohibit discrimination, harassment, and retaliation in the workplace”. 6park.com其中包括一起来自卡特的诉讼，他声称自己在向美国平等就业机会委员会(EEOC)提交种族歧视投诉之后被TikTok报复。TikTok此前表示，它“严肃对待员工的担忧，而且设置了禁止工作场所歧视、骚扰和报复的有力政策。” 6park.com 6park.comIn February, TikTok’s former global marketing head in the US Katie Puris alleged in a lawsuit she was fired because some company executives, including ByteDance chair Lidong Zhang, believed she “lacked the docility and meekness specifically required of female employees”. TikTok has not commented on the lawsuit. 6park.com2月，TikTok在美国的前任全球营销负责人凯蒂•普里斯(Katie Puris)在一项诉讼中指控称，她因为一些公司高管（包括字节跳动董事长张利东）认为她“缺乏女性雇员尤其需要的顺从和谦恭”而被解雇。TikTok没有对该诉讼置评。
6park.comThere have been attempts to ease tensions. One document circulated among some TikTok staff last year suggests that “high power distance” — the acceptance of hierarchical power as part of society — is common in China. By contrast, “low power distance” — which asserts that inequality in society should be minimised — is common in the US and the UK, for example. 6park.com该公司曾试图缓和紧张。例如，去年在一些TikTok员工中流传的一份文件表示，“高权力距离”(high power distance)——接受等级权力是社会的一部分——在中国很常见。相比之下，“低权力距离”(low power distance)——即主张社会不平等应该最小化——在美国和英国很常见。
6park.comIn sometimes broken English, the document urged employees to take these differences into account when working with people overseas and “try to show our sincerity by changing our own habits and balancing cultural values between us”. 6park.com该文件——有时用蹩脚的英语——敦促员工在与海外人员合作时考虑到这些差异，并“努力通过改变自己的习惯、平衡我们之间的文化价值观，来展示我们的诚意”。
6park.comMany remain unconvinced by such efforts. One recent TikTok staffer said: “There are jokes internally that, if you’ve stayed more than two years, you’ve stayed a lifetime.” 6park.com许多人仍然未被这种努力说服。一名最近入职的TikTok工作人员说：“内部有笑话说，如果你在这里待了超过两年，你就等于待了一辈子。” 6park.com
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