If you're a smartphone enthusiast, you've probably heard about big-name Chinese phone
manufacturers like ZTE and Huawei being restricted from the US market.
So it may not be terribly surprising that a Chinese app has now come under fire as well.
I'm talking about none other than TikTok, the app best known for poorly singing teenagers and
viral dance-offs.
But why is TikTok of all things suddenly under so much scrutiny?
Well, certain US officials have described it as a potential national security threat.
But how could that be? Well, the reason the US and some of its allies are so concerned about Chinese technology
is the possibility that backdoors could be built in to Chinese-controlled software
or hardware to allow mass spying against Western citizens and interests.
And although Huawei, for example, is a private company,
they've faced criticism in the past for getting too much support from China's communist government,
leading some to worry that their communication technology could be used for shady doings.
Now, TikTok is also owned by a private Chinese company called ByteDance,
and like Huawei, they're not officially an ARM of the government in Beijing.
But the concerns about undue influence from Chinese authorities remain.
For example, China forced ByteDance to shut down a different app centered around memes
and videos in 2018, simply because it didn't like the content.
ByteDance then issued a statement in which it attempted to appease the Chinese Communist Party
and promised to hire party members as well as increase the number of employees working as sensors.
So it looks like fears that ByteDance might end up becoming pressured to be a tool of the
Chinese government aren't completely unfounded. And while it's true that US tech companies have gotten in hot water with the American government
before over content, not to mention the NSA surveillance revelations that came out some years
back, Chinese lack of data protection laws or an independent judiciary with due process guarantees,
as well as China Internet Security Law, which gives the government very broad powers to collect
data from tech companies, has raised concerns that it would be far easier for the Chinese
Communist Party to get its hands on any data it wants from ByteDance and other domestic technology
firms, even if the data itself was collected and stored outside of China as ByteDance claims
is the case with TikTok. But of course, that's a lot of speculation. Is this actually what's
going on with TikTok? Well, so far, there's no evidence that the Chinese government has
collected data en masse from TikTok or its users. And even if it did, it's important to look at
what kind of information they'd be getting. TikTok does collect IP addresses and location data, but
lots of apps do the same thing. Instead, it's far more likely that more valuable information,
such as financial records and physical addresses, would come from other sources,
such as security breaches of government agencies, as well as the credit bureau leaks that we all
found out about in 2017. But another potentially huge issue with TikTok isn't related to data
collection or the use of the app as a way to hack phones or networks. Other huge social media
platforms, namely Facebook and Twitter, have faced criticism for being slanted politically
or not doing enough to control the flow of misinformation about sensitive topics.
And there's a fear that the Chinese government is already using TikTok to control and spin
conversations about issues that people care about by forcing ByteDance to, well, dance to its tune.
In 2019, there was a report that TikTok moderators were being forced to restrict negative comments
about the Chinese system as well as content related to the Hong Kong protests and,
unsurprisingly, about the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989. But regardless of what TikTok does or
does not have the potential to become, both the US Army and Navy have banned the app and the State
Department is said to be looking at a nationwide prohibition. India, which has also been at logger
heads with China recently, has already banned TikTok, citing similar national security concerns.
I just wonder what will happen if it does get banned in the US. There's probably going to be a
lot of really upset Gen Zers. But instead of voicing their displeasure at the ballot box,
maybe they'll find a way to resurrect Vine. I miss Vines. I'm kidding, I don't miss Vines.
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