By Suhana Hyder and Ben Liu, Global Security Team

Every day TikTok's Global Security Team works to build industry-leading security technology and processes so that millions of people can enjoy a safe and fun experience on our platform. We're constantly asking ourselves tough questions and looking for ways to stay ahead of evolving challenges.

One of the ways we do is this is by partnering with third party researchers – sometimes referred to as "white hat hackers" –  to help find potential vulnerabilities on our platform. The idea of working with a hacker may sound confusing to some, but like many technology companies, we actively encourage these efforts as a part of our security strategy. When a security researcher spots a gap in our security and alerts us, we can fix it before it is exploited by a malicious actor. 

On our website, we list out a clear policy and procedure for third parties who discover potential vulnerabilities within our platform so that we can quickly find and fix them. If you believe you have discovered a bug or vulnerability on the TikTok app or website, please submit your report using the web form on our website. We may reach out for additional information in response to your report.

At TikTok, we believe the entire industry should be held to an exceptionally high standard when it comes to transparency and accountability. In addition to our partnerships with third-party researchers, we regularly release Transparency Reports and have opened our Transparency and Accountability Centers to security experts and lawmakers so that they can better understand how TikTok works and test our security processes.

In the coming weeks, we plan to expand our collaboration with third-party researchers and will share more information here on our Newsroom. In the meantime, we appreciate the researchers who have helped us improve our app, and we look forward to continuing to make TikTok a safe and secure experience for our entire community.