ByteDance Takes Legal Action Against Former Intern
date
Nov 28, 2024
damn
language
en
status
Published
type
News
image
https://www.ai-damn.com/1732761852751-201906242208064335_2.jpg
slug
bytedance-takes-legal-action-against-former-intern-1732761861234
tags
ByteDance
lawsuit
security breach
intern
technology
summary
ByteDance has filed a lawsuit against former intern Tian XX, seeking 8 million yuan in damages for allegedly breaching company security by tampering with code. The incident, which occurred during his internship, reportedly involved unauthorized access to the company's model training tasks.
ByteDance Sues Former Intern for 8 Million Yuan
ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has initiated legal proceedings against a former intern, Tian XX, in the Haidian District People's Court in Beijing. The lawsuit alleges that Tian breached the company's security protocols by tampering with code related to internal model training tasks. The company is seeking compensation for damages amounting to 8 million yuan (approximately $1.1 million) and an additional 20,000 yuan for related expenses, along with a public apology from Tian.
Allegations of Code Tampering
Reports from the Southern Metropolis Daily indicate that in October 2024, media sources suggested that ByteDance's large model training operations had been compromised by an intern's actions, leading to claims that the incident involved over 8,000 cards and resulted in losses exceeding $10 million. ByteDance later issued a clarification, denying these exaggerated claims and confirming that an intern had been dismissed in August 2024 for serious violations of company policy. The affected tasks were reportedly part of a research project within the company's commercialization technology team and did not impact official operations or online business activities.
Investigation Findings
On November 5, ByteDance's Corporate Discipline and Professional Ethics Committee released a report detailing the incident. According to the report, from June to July 2024, Tian XX allegedly executed a malicious attack on the model training tasks of the research project. This was reportedly motivated by dissatisfaction with the distribution of resources within the team, leading to a significant resource loss.
Following the incident, ByteDance terminated Tian's internship agreement and reported the matter to the Sunshine Integrity Alliance, a corporate anti-fraud organization, as well as to the educational institution he attends.
Legal Action Justification
ByteDance's decision to pursue legal action was influenced by Tian's denial of involvement during the handling of the incident. Despite being a current doctoral student, Tian reportedly maintained that other interns were responsible for the attack on the model training tasks. Given that Tian did not acknowledge his actions as violations of company policy, ByteDance determined that filing a lawsuit was necessary to convey the seriousness of the situation and to deter similar infractions in the future.
The company's stance underscores its commitment to maintaining stringent security measures and protecting its proprietary technology from internal threats.
Key Points
- ByteDance is suing former intern Tian XX for 8 million yuan in damages.
- The lawsuit stems from allegations of code tampering that affected internal model training tasks.
- ByteDance clarified that the incident did not impact official projects or online operations.
- The company aims to demonstrate a strong stance against security breaches to prevent future incidents.