Tik Tok Might Be Stealing Your Data
Tik Tok has become the worldwide social media platform where a new generation of teens spends most of their time. From making videos about memes to uploading dancing videos, millions of children all over the world have fallen in love with the app. Within the last year, however, Tik Tok has been under extreme investigation for potentially sending data about its users back to the Chinese government. Like most social media apps, Tik Tok requires one to put in their personal information. It is within reason to assume that perhaps the Chinese government is taking information from its users and supposedly tracking U.S. citizens.
The scrutiny of the app began when Music.ly was the app for the younger generations. Music.ly was bought out by a company called ByteDance and it was a karaoke app where people could upload videos of themselves singing for about 60 seconds. A year later, this app was then merged with Tik Tok, which has resulted in a growth of the app worldwide (New York Times, Nicas, Isaac, and Swanson). Initial allegations that the Chinese government was stealing information from kids under the age of 13 began around 2018. As of February of 2019, Tik Tok had agreed to pay 5.7 million dollars to “settle allegations that it illegally collected personal information from children under the age of 13” (Pham). However, that did not stop the United States government from wondering if their data was still being breached.
Currently, the United States government has placed Tik Tok under the national security review, after there were many concerns regarding the fact that American social media platforms are not allowed in China. Still, Chinese platforms are free to be used in the States (Nicas, Isaac, and Swanson). This has come to be seen as “a threat to American national security, and the economy and they have set up numerous barriers to stop Chinese firms from acquiring American data and technology” (Nicas, Isaac, and Swanson). Moreover, there have been new recent allegations stating that the Chinese government may be censoring content on Tik Tok, especially after people noticed how there were few videos that talked about the ongoing Hong Kong protests. Such concerns raised the idea that perhaps the Chinese government is hiding content that does not align with their ideals.
Of course, there was a denial by the Chinese government at the fact that they were purposely hiding content, but one moderator did admit that they were told to prevent political content from spreading (Nicas, Isaac, and Swanson). Despite these allegations, Tik Tok still continues to try and form good relations with the U.S. government while continuing to gather a larger crowd. And as they continue to gain popularity, their pool of data about users only continues to expand. But until the issue is resolved, there is no telling whether the Chinese and U.S. government will be able to come to terms with the problem.
The Tik Tok controversy may be an issue that has been highlighted by multiple news outlets. Still, the issue of data collection on social media as a whole has become a bigger concern in this generation. As more of what people do gets moved to online platforms, questions about privacy and security have come about more and more in society. In fact, nowadays, it seems impossible to do anything without giving any personal information away. And as the use of technology becomes more prevalent, there is no doubt that someone could be watching us and collecting our data at all times without our knowledge. Even when using something like a personal laptop, there are millions of people worldwide who will cover their laptop cameras for fear of someone watching them or listening in on them, myself included. Other personal devices such as phones where robots like SIRI exist have also come under scrutiny after it was revealed that SIRI listens to everything and can record a user at all times. Such examples are only two of the many cases that show the-ever increasing-necessity to be more aware of the fact that our data is being breached.
The dangers of having a society that is constantly tapping into our dangers are blatantly clear and as more of our privacy gets taken away, so does more of our ability to have free will. Now, we are constantly monitoring or being monitored by another and everything we do can be tracked through a simple IP address. And as this becomes more of a reality, we may start to become paranoid and act as if we are always being watched. However, the younger teens, who are generally unaware of these issues, are unafraid to give away their basic information to online platforms such as Tik Tok. Moreover, the information they give online may not always be on American platforms but foreign platforms (Tik Tok) as well. This giving away of their information of data to foreign platforms could result in the relaying of their personal information to the foreign governments themselves. Not only does this allow them to spy on the people, but it can also allow them to spy on the country as a whole, and perhaps even use people’s data to hack into places that are not allowed to be touched. Thus, our awareness of these issues, on privacy, and in educating the young people on privacy concerns could be the start in spurring our government to take a stance and teach the people the dangers of living in a world of data.
Although it will be impossible to stop the government from ever collecting personal data about us, being aware of the fact that our data is being taken and educating the people on this issue may be a start in keeping our privacy private. Furthermore, the censorship of social media platforms should also be of concern as more of what we see becomes warped by different digital platforms. Without the realization and questioning of these topics, there will be a continuation of data being utilized beyond our knowledge, and it can lead us being brainwashed, constantly seeing what they want us to see and being controlled in ways that are beyond our control. But before that happens, we must learn to question what it means to have privacy in a world that demands that we share everything online.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/01/technology/tiktok-national-security-review.html
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/28/tech/tiktok-ftc-fine-children/index.html
