For three years American politicians have tried to ban TikTok over privacy concerns, but experts say American companies expose data to the Chinese government in the exact same ways. Senator Mark Warner just acknowledged another motivation: big business.
, another Chinese company which, notably, was discussed as a security threat over data concerns. Warner’s “concern has been in no small part about the potential for a company ultimately beholden to the Chinese Community Party to be deployed in a variety of nefarious means, should the CCP direct it to do so,” said Rachel Cohen, Warner’s communications director.
TikTok’s social media dominance could be a problem if the app is directed to do the Chinese government’s bidding, Cohen said.TikTok has censored content that’s critical of the Chinese government, but as far as we know, that’sin China. If you search “Chinese protests” on TikTok, you get countless results, many featuring videos of recent protests and violence by state actors, as well as a link to the Wikipedia entry on the 2011 Chinese pro-democracy protests. So far, there is no evidence that TikTok is interfering with content for its American audience to further the Chinese government’s aims—though the possibility is there. “We hope that Congress will explore solutions to their national security concerns that won’t have the effect of censoring the voices of millions of Americans,” said a TikTok spokesperson. “We hope that politicians with national security concerns will encourage the Administration to conclude its national security review of TikTok.TikTok’s privacy concerns are real, and they deserve attention. Like all social media apps, TikTok harvests data for its advertising business. By Chinese law, TikTok could theoretically be forced to hand that data over to the communist party. The company has also demonstrated a willingness to use its data for unscrupulous purposes. CEO Shou Chew reportedly admittedHowever, these privacy risks are not unique to TikTok. As Warner put it, “we’ve got to have a systemic approach.” Banning the app won’t keep data out of the hands of the Chinese government because the entire internet is built to share data with anyone and everyone who wants it. There’s only one way to clamp down on data: laws that apply to every company.“I’m not at all saying TikTok is innocent, but focusing specifically on one app from one country is not going to solve whatever problem you think you’re solving. It truly misses the point,” said David Kahn Gillmor, a senior staff technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union, in an interview with Gizmodo last week. “Do we really think that Facebook or Google are not capable of being influenced by the Chinese government? They know a market when they see one. I think the pressure that’s building is basically a race to be seen as tough on China.”, and there’s even more widespread data collection across the web.
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