President Joe Biden's Federal Trade Commission paid an adviser who recently revealed she worked on behalf of ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, records show.

The FTC used Keystone Strategy's Cristina Caffarra, "a global thought leader in competition economics," for advice in connection to an antitrust case brought against Facebook's parent company Meta that the agency decided not to pursue in February. Caffarra also was an adviser "within the last three years" to ByteDance, which has come under heightened scrutiny from lawmakers following reports it spied on American journalists.

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“Working for ByteDance should be disqualifying for public service in America," Michael Sobolik, a senior Indo-Pacific studies fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council think tank, told the Washington Examiner. "ByteDance answers to Beijing and advances the interests of the Chinese Communist Party. It has spied on American journalists, and its subsidiary TikTok has censored content deemed ‘sensitive’ by the CCP."

In July 2022, the FTC paid over $2.7 million to Keystone Strategy, "an innovative strategy, economics, and technology consulting firm," according to federal funding records. The contract is set to expire on Friday. The FTC declined a Washington Examiner request for comment.

Caffarra "had a role advising the FTC in Meta/Within," according to a footnote in a June article she co-authored. The footnote was in reference to the FTC's dropped case initiated last July taking issue with Meta's proposed merger with the virtual reality gaming company Within Unlimited due to monopoly concerns, court records show.

Caffarra revealed her ByteDance connections in an April 4 disclosure statement filed to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a think tank that hosted her for a panel. Her ByteDance involvement was while she was with Europe's Charles River Associates, a consulting firm she worked at between 2005 and 2022, she told the Washington Examiner.

"I was involved in a CRA piece of work for Bytedance, not TikTok, outside the U.S., years ago before leaving CRA and before doing anything with the FTC," she said. "TikTok and Bytedance are not a client of myself or Keystone."

Revelations of the government adviser's ties to ByteDance come as the Beijing technology company faces immense pressure in the United States as Congress mulls TikTok ban proposals. The Justice Department launched an investigation earlier this year after ByteDance admitted to obtaining data on TikTok users in the U.S., as well as two American journalists.

ByteDance and TikTok in 2023 have dramatically escalated U.S. lobbying, which is led by a team of former lawmakers and top congressional staffers, the Washington Examiner reported. TikTok lobbyists have also repeatedly scored visits to Biden's White House, disclosures show.

Congressional Republicans, in particular, have raised concerns over ByteDance's ties to the Chinese Communist Party — since China has a law that requires companies to provide the government with personal data relevant to national security. A former ByteDance executive alleged in a May lawsuit that the CCP "maintained supreme access" to ByteDance data, including in the U.S.

"It is deeply concerning that the Biden administration hired a former ByteDance employee," Sobolik added.

Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX), who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, told the Washington Examiner that he will likely be writing a letter to FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan to request more information about the agency's relationship with Caffarra. Khan testified on Thursday before the Republican-led panel, which has criticized her for alleged staff mismanagement, an overly complex merger review process, and alleged harassment of Twitter on the heels of Elon Musk acquiring the company.

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"The FTC has some of the best litigators around," Khan said in response to Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) taking aim at the FTC's "losing" track record in merger trials. The agency notably filed an appeal in federal court on Wednesday to block Microsoft's $68.7 billion acquisition of the video game company Activision Blizzard after a judge ruled in favor of the companies.

ByteDance did not reply to a request for comment.