Business records reveal the Chinese Communist Party has retained a stake and a new board seat in TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, which in turn funds Facebook’s fact-checking partner ‘Lead Stories’.

A Reuters report describes how the Chinese technology firm sold a one percent stake to WangTouZhongWen (Beijing) Technology, owned by three state-run entities…“The deal…allowed the Chinese government to appoint a board director at Beijing ByteDance,”added…

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TikTok’s parent company employs former Chinese Communist Party officials, including individuals with military ties, to executive roles and grants party members preferential treatment in hiring processes…

The ByteDance founder has also pledged to use his firm to “promote socialist core values” and devotion to the Chinese Communist Party in a 2018 letter unearthed by The National Pulse…

Beyond counting financial support from Beijing, the founder also pledged to “strengthen party building” by “enhancing education of all the staff on the four consciousness, socialist core values, public opinion guidance, as well as laws and regulations” along with “further deepening cooperation with authoritative media, improving distribution of authoritative media content, and ensuring the effective dissemination of authoritative voices.”…

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(Excerpt from The National Pulse. Article by Natalie Winters. Photo Credit: Dreamstime).