According to the messages, some of ByteDance’s most senior government relations staff members, including Kanter and Erich Andersen, a global head of corporate affairs and general counsel based in the US, internally discussed the issue but rejected the request because they deemed it to be “sensitive.” According to the communications, TikTok leveraged the incident to start a conversation within the company about other delicate demands. According to the spokeswoman, TikTok prohibits “organised inauthentic behaviour,” in which users pretend to be someone else in order to exert influence or manipulate public opinion, as well as political advertising. Some Chinese official organisations,...