ByteDance sues former intern for US$1.1m over code attack on model training

TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, is suing a former intern for deliberately writing and modifying code to attack the company’s internal model training.

ByteDance is requesting the court to order the former intern, Tian Keyu, to pay US$1.1 million in damages for infringement and US$2,755 in reasonable expenses, along with a public apology, according to Chinese media outlet Southern Metropolis Daily. The Haidian District Court in Beijing has officially accepted the case.

This comes after reports in October indicating that an intern had attacked the large model training tasks at ByteDance, with online claims suggesting damages amounting to tens of millions of US dollars and involving over 8,000 graphics processing units.

In response, ByteDance confirmed that an intern had indeed committed serious violations and that this individual had been terminated by the company in August 2024. Meanwhile, ByteDance refuted claims that the disruption involved over 8,000 graphics processing units and led to losses of tens of millions of dollars, describing these assertions as exaggerated.

According to Southern Metropolis Daily, insiders at ByteDance said that the lawsuit was initiated at this time because Tian is a doctoral student, and after his dismissal, the case was initially referred to the university for resolution. However, while the incident was being addressed, Tian consistently denied any wrongdoing, claiming another intern was accountable for the attack on the model training tasks.

Since Tian appeared unaware of his mistakes and his actions breached ByteDance's security protocols, the company ultimately decided to file a lawsuit to underscore its seriousness and prevent similar incidents from happening, according to the report.

ByteDance issued a notification on corporate discipline and professional ethics to all internal employees, disclosing details of the incident, according to the report. Between June and July 2024, Tian, as a former intern from the group's business products and technology department, maliciously attacked the model training tasks of the team's research project by writing and modifying code, driven by dissatisfaction with the allocation of team resources, which led to resource depletion. The company has since terminated his internship agreement.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Bytedance for a statement. 

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