- Published on
TikTok; Google; Your Data | 60 Minutes Full Episodes
Introduction
The Trump Administration was set to ban TikTok, the wildly popular Chinese-owned mobile phone application, until Friday when the short-form video service was granted a two-week reprieve by the U.S. government to find an American buyer. This means TikTok will keep running on 100 million American devices, which has been the administration's worry. They claim that TikTok "automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users," potentially allowing China to track the locations of federal employees, conduct corporate espionage, or even blackmail individuals.
President-elect Biden has also expressed concern regarding the Chinese-owned app, declaring it a matter of genuine concern. TikTok counters these claims, asserting that it is merely a platform for creativity and free expression, and that accusations of data misuse are unfounded. This leads to an important question: Is TikTok merely a pawn in the great power rivalry between the U.S. and China, or is it a genuine threat?
TikTok markets itself as the last sunny corner on the internet, with 50 million Americans spending nearly an hour each day on the app, watching a never-ending parade of short videos. These may involve lip-syncing popular songs or performing their own acts, but like Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook, TikTok's real business is keeping users engaged as long as possible to collect their data.
Experts like Kahn Kitchens, who spent 15 years working for the U.S. intelligence community, particularly highlight TikTok's relationship with the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. The Chinese government has fused its government and industry to achieve state ends, raising concerns about data security and privacy. TikTok collects a wealth of user data, from access to cameras and microphones to more obscure data such as keystroke patterns, which can provide deep insights into user behaviour.
Former CIA officer Kara Frederick emphasizes the power of big tech and the potential misuse of such invasive technologies. A significant concern is that Generation Z, which lives largely online, may have vast amounts of their personal data scooped up by foreign adversaries. While many applications collect user data, TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Beijing-based company under stringent Chinese laws requiring data sharing with the government.
Senator Josh Hawley has been vocal about Google's, Facebook's, and Apple's excesses, extending his scrutiny to TikTok. Critics argue that ByteDance’s ties to the Chinese government jeopardize user data security. This has culminated in the U.S. government's condition that TikTok separates from ByteDance to continue U.S. operations, but progress has been stalled due to China's restrictions on exporting TikTok's proprietary algorithm.
Despite these concerns, TikTok continues to surge in popularity, being downloaded 2.5 billion times globally. Vanessa Pappas, TikTok's interim CEO, downplays the concerns, asserting that U.S. user data is stored securely in the U.S. and Singapore, and that no data has been requested by the Chinese government. However, skeptics like Clown Kitchen argue that Chinese cybersecurity laws mean the government doesn't need to request data—they already have access.
Concurrently, Google, a behemoth in the tech world, dominates the internet with its search engine controlling 90% of global searches. This level of dominance raises issues of monopolistic behaviour. Gary Reback, an Anti-Trust lawyer, argues that Google is a gatekeeper for the internet, controlling access to it and thus competing unfairly by pushing its services to the top of search results.
Senator Hawley’s comparison of allegations against TikTok to the Equifax breach underscores the risks of potential misuse of data. The U.S. Department of Justice charged four Chinese military hackers with stealing records from Equifax, which affected 145 million Americans. The fear is that TikTok, much like Equifax, could contribute to China building dossiers on U.S. citizens.
The European Union has been leading efforts to regulate big tech, imposing substantial fines on companies like Google for anti-competitive behaviour. Margarethe Vestager, the competition commissioner for the European Union, has been instrumental in these actions, emphasizing that illegal behaviour from tech giants must stop.
This aligns with growing concerns in the U.S. where regulatory bodies and politicians are increasingly alert to the risks posed by the accumulation of vast amounts of data by a few tech giants. The consensus is shifting towards the need for stringent federal laws to protect consumer privacy, much like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enacted by the European Union. Unlike in the U.S., European citizens now enjoy robust rights over their personal data, including the right to access the data collected on them, the right to have it deleted, and the right to consent before data collection.
Currently, American tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon are beginning to show support for potential U.S. privacy laws, hoping to have considerable input into how these laws are shaped, but privacy advocates argue that real legislative changes are necessary to ensure the security and privacy of users are adequately protected.
Introduction
- TikTok
- ByteDance
- data privacy
- Chinese government
- U.S. government
- YouTube
- search engine
- anti-trust
- GDPR
- data collection
Introduction
Q: Why is the U.S. government concerned about TikTok? A: The U.S. government claims that TikTok automatically captures vast amounts of information from its users, potentially allowing China to track the locations of federal employees, conduct corporate espionage, or even blackmail individuals.
Q: What does TikTok say about these allegations? A: TikTok asserts that it is merely a platform for creativity and free expression and claims that the accusations of data misuse are unfounded.
Q: Who owns TikTok and why is this ownership concerning? A: TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Beijing-based company. The concern is that under China's cybersecurity laws, Chinese companies are required to share data with the government, raising data security and privacy issues.
Q: What actions has the European Union taken concerning tech giants like Google? A: The European Union has imposed substantial fines on companies like Google for anti-competitive behaviour and enacted the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which empowers consumers with rights over their personal data.
Q: How do European privacy laws differ from those in the U.S.? A: European privacy laws, under GDPR, provide robust rights to individuals over their personal data, including access to the data, the right to delete it, and the need for consent before data collection. In contrast, the U.S. currently has far fewer protections and rights for consumers in terms of data privacy.