It seems everyone is talking about the potential TikTok ban in the US, but why is it being banned? That depends on who you talk to. The concerns over TikTok range from potential espionage risks to personal data privacy and its effects on mental health. Here is what we know so far:
Why is the US government worried about TikTok?
The FBI and FCC raised concerns about the security of the app, specifically the potential ability of parent company ByteDance to share user information with the Chinese government. This comes from a 2017 law in China that requires companies to hand over personal data if it is relevant to national security. So far there is no evidence that TikTok has turned over any data to the government, however, in December four TikTok employees were fired for accessing the data of two American journalists from Buzzfeed and The Financial Times while trying to discover the source of a leaked report on TikTok.
Many governments have banned TikTok on government devices citing the potential for espionage and concerns over national security, and two have private sector bans in place in addition to bans on government-issued devices. Here are the countries that currently ban TikTok on government devices.
•France
•The Netherlands
•Norway
•NewZealand
•United Kingdom
•European Union (Executive Branch)
•Denmark
•Belgium
•Canada
•United States
•Taiwan
•India
*Taiwan and India have also banned TikTok in the public sector.
Concerns about data handling and storage
There are also worries about how TikTok is handling and storing user US data. At the moment, they keep it on servers in Virginia and Singapore. But they're working on a restructuring called "Project Texas", which will move all American user data to servers controlled by Oracle, here in the US. To make sure everything's on the up and up, there's a new committee called the TikTok US Data Security Committee, which, when implemented will have the approval of the US government. This group will let Oracle check out the software, coding, and global data flows. Brooke Oberwetter, head of policy communication at TikTok, said in a statement “There will be multiple layers of oversight by multiple federal agencies, multiple outside consultants, security vendors, and auditors.” They started this project last year by putting new user data on the Oracle servers, and they expect to finish moving everything over by the end of this year.
Mental Health Risks
Lawmakers have also talked about how TikTok can impact the mental health of young people. According to the Pew Research Center, about two-thirds of American teens are on the app, and there's some research by the Center for Countering Digital Hate that suggests the platform's algorithm might be promoting harmful content related to things like self-harm and eating disorders. Some mental health experts are worried that the app's “comparison culture” could be especially risky for young people who are already struggling with self-esteem. But, on the flip side, there are also some potential benefits to using social media, like TikTok, such as normalizing conversations about mental health and finding a sense of community. It's definitely a complicated issue, and the jury's still out on if TikTok is any worse than any other social media platform when it comes to mental health.
The Bottom Line
In a nutshell, TikTok might be risky given it's been banned on government devices in many other countries, but there's no solid evidence that the Chinese government is using it to spy on the US. It looks like the December incident was just a couple of rogue employees, maybe at TikTok's urging, maybe not. There are definitely some concerns about the content and algorithm, but we don't know yet if it's worse than any other social media platform. If we're worried about Chinese apps and spying, why just ban TikTok? And what about all the other popular apps from China? From February 26th - March 26th, the top four free apps downloaded on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store were based in China. Only time will tell if the ban actually happens and what the consequences will be for TikTok users and other foreign apps.
Sources: