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The US is raising national security concerns about TikTok by requiring all federal workers to delete the Chinese-owned social media app from government-issued mobile phones. Other Western governments are considering similar restrictions, claiming espionage concerns.
So, how severe is the danger? Should TikTok users who do not work for the government be concerned as well?
The responses vary depending on who you question and how concerned you are about technology companies collecting and sharing personal data in general.
How are the United States and other governments interfering with TikTok?
The White House announced on Monday that it will give federal organizations in the United States 30 days to remove TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices.
Congress, the White House, the United States armed forces. And more than half of the United States had already banned TikTok over fears that its parent company, ByteDance. Would give the Chinese government user data, such as browsing history and location. Or promote propaganda and misinformation on its behalf.
TikTok has been temporarily banned from employee phones in the European Union. And Denmark and Canada have declared efforts to block TikTok on government-issued phones.
China claims the restrictions expose the US’s insecurities and are an abuse of state power. However, they arrive at a time when Western technology companies, such as Airbnb, Yahoo, and LinkedIn. Are leaving or downsizing operations in China due to Beijing’s strict privacy legislation, which governs how companies collect and store data.
What are the issues with TikTok?
The FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have both expressed concern that ByteDance may share TikTok user data with China’s autocratic government.
A 2017 law in China requires businesses to provide the government with any personal data pertinent to the country’s national security. There is no proof that TikTok has turned over such data. But due to the vast quantity of user data it collects, fears abound.
Concerns were raised in December when ByteDance announced the firing of four employees who attempted to track down the source of a leaked report about the business by accessing data on two journalists from Buzzfeed News and The Financial Times. According to TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter, the violation was a “egregious misuse” of the employees’ power.
There is also concern about TikTok’s content and whether it harms the emotional health of teenagers. In a December report, researchers from the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate stated that eating disorder material on the platform had received 13.2 billion views. According to the Pew Research Center, roughly two-thirds of American teenagers use TikTok.
Who was behind the TikTok restrictions?
In 2020, then-President Donald Trump and his government attempted to force ByteDance to sell its assets in the United States and remove TikTok from app stores. Courts blocked Trump’s efforts, and after assuming office. President Joe Biden rescinded Trump’s orders but demanded an in-depth investigation into the matter. TikTok’s intended sale of its assets in the United States has been canceled.
Concerns about the program have been expressed by members of both parties in Congress. The “No TikTok on Government Devices Act” was approved by Congress in December as part of a large government funding package. TikTok use is permitted under the law in certain circumstances, including national security, law enforcement, and study.
House Republicans are expected to introduce legislation Tuesday that would give Biden the authority to ban TikTok nationally. The legislation, proposed by Rep. Mike McCaul, seeks to avoid the legal challenges that the government would face if sanctions were imposed on the business.
Civil liberties groups have lobbied against the bill. The American Civil Liberties Union said in a letter to McCaul and Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. That a national TikTok ban would be unconstitutional and would “likely result in the banning of many other businesses and applications as well.”
How dangerous is TikTok?
Depending on who you question. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco of the United States has expressed concern that the Chinese government may obtain access to user data.
“I don’t use TikTok. And I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone,” Monaco said earlier this month at the Chatham House policy center in London.
In a blog post in June, TikTok stated that it will route all data from U.S. Users to servers controlled by Oracle. The Silicon Valley firm it chose as its U.S. Tech partner in 2020 in an attempt to escape a nationwide ban. However, it is keeping backups of the data on its own servers in the United States and Singapore. The business stated that it expects to delete US user data from its own servers, but no timetable was provided.
However, experts believe that the quantity of information TikTok collects is similar to that of other popular social media sites.
TikTok and Facebook collect similar amounts of user data. Including device identifiers that can be used to track a user and other information that can be used to piece together a user’s behavior across various platforms. According to a 2021 analysis released by the University of Toronto’s nonprofit Citizen Lab. Advertisers will benefit from this knowledge.
“You should avoid using the app if you are not comfortable with that level of data collection and sharing,” according to the Citizen Lab report.
What are the opinions of other experts?
While the Chinese government’s potential abuse of privacy is troubling. “it’s equally troubling that the US government, and many other governments. Already abuse and exploit the data collected by every other U.S.-based tech company with the same data-harvesting business practices. ” said Evan Greer, director of the nonprofit advocacy group Fight for the Future.
“If policymakers want to protect Americans from surveillance. They should advocate for a basic privacy law that prohibits all companies from collecting so much sensitive data about us in the first place. Rather than engaging in xenophobic showboating that protects no one,” Greer said.