TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has used testimony from former Chinese Communist Party diplomats as promotional materials to entice individuals to work at the company.
The revolving door between the Chinese government and Bytedance is additional evidence that the company’s app TikTok is compromised by the Chinese Communist Party.
Jian Porto, who has worked at Bytedance since 2016, served as a Chinese Communist Party official for six years before he joined the company. Currently a Country Manager for ByteDance Brazil, Porto served as a diplomat at China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs focusing on “Latin America and the Caribbean issues” from 2010 to 2011.
And from 2011 until he joined TikTok’s parent company, Porto was Vice-Consul at China’s Consulate General in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. From the Chinese Communist Party’s diplomatic post, he immediately joined Bytedance as a Director of Content Aggregation Services before being promoted to Director General of Entertainment Services and later his current position, Country Manager of Brazil.
Porto’s praise for Bytedance was prominently displayed as part of the company’s hiring efforts. Promotional material quoted him as saying “a company’s culture is unique and personal to its employees, and, when combined with personal values, can drive the both towards their purpose.”
Porto is also pictured in the ad campaign.
The company openly admits to granting priority to Chinese Communist Party members in their hiring process, sharing a job posting which declared declared “Communist Party members would be considered first” and described its ideal employee as someone who “loves reading news, cares about current affairs, and has good political sensitivity and judgment.”
Porto, however, is not the only Chinese Communist Pary official working at the company.
Jane Dou, who has worked at Bytedance since 2018, also served in China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On LinkedIn, she lists herself as working in the “State President Xi Jinping Office” as a news interpreter in 2012.
Now, Dou serves as CEO of Bytedance’s management office where she oversees a host of tasks including “confidential projects.” Prior to this role, Dou served as Global Communications Senior Manager and International Products Public Affairs Lead for Bytedance.
