TikTok accused of hampering Ukraine war crimes investigations: report

Activists and lawyers who have been trying to use TikTok to gather evidence of war crimes in Ukraine say they face roadblocks from the Chinese-owned app, according to a report. 

As videos from Ukrainian and Russian soldiers and civilians flood TikTok, activists and lawyers have called on the app to better preserve and hand over videos that could potentially be used as evidence in war crimes investigations and prosecutions, the Financial Times reported on Friday. 

But TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, deletes nearly 90% of videos that it considers “inappropriate” before anyone sees them, according to the report. 

Investigators argue that videos of massacres or airstrikes — while certainly “inappropriate” — can also serve as invaluable evidence in war crimes prosecutions. They want TikTok to do a better job of saving and turning over war videos. 

“How will investigators request information if they don’t know it ever existed?” international criminal lawyer Raquel Vázquez Llorente told the paper. “This can have a catastrophic effect for justice for human rights abuses.” 

While independent nonprofits often assist investigations by collecting social media posts, they don’t necessarily have legal authority to demand TikTok turn over data. TikTok told The Post that it has preserved Ukraine war posts that it can turn over in response to law enforcement requests.

“We have data preservation policies in place relating to the war in Ukraine, and we stand ready to respond to requests from the [International Criminal Court] or other relevant law enforcement agencies, in line with our publicly available Law Enforcement Guidelines, which reflect international legal norms,” a TikTok spokesperson said.

But the International Criminal Court’s data analysis chief David Hasman told the Financial Times that TikTok’s Chinese ownership complicates investigations by the Netherlands-based court, which prosecutes war crimes and genocide cases around the world.

“The way that TikTok stores data is much different, and where they store their data, in which countries, obviously is also a lot different,” Hasman said. “I would say it’s probably one of the biggest challenges.” 

It’s more difficult to collect data from TikTok than Twitter or Facebook, Hasman added.

TikTok pushed back on Hasman’s comments, telling The Post that it has not received any data requests from the International Criminal Court. TikTok also said it had complied with requests from Ukrainian law enforcement.

Dia Kayyali, the associate director for advocacy at a nonprofit called Mnemonic that collects digital evidence of human rights violations, likewise raised concerns about TikTok data being stored in China.

“There is a lot of suspicion of engaging with TikTok because of its origins, and I think rightfully so,” Kayyali said. “I have concerns about the security of data there, and it is not fully clear where the interest and influence in the company is coming from … It is especially concerning that China could directly have access to that data.”

Kayyali reportedly met with TikTok earlier this year to discuss concerns about war crimes evidence but has not received any “follow-up.” 

“It’s very frustrating,” Kayyali said. “TikTok’s processes are just not developed, and they do not have it figured out.”